X Men origins Glacier
by Smileylion
Summary: Evelyn is a powerful mutant, experimented on in a mental facility. She escapes to Xavier's school, but is still hunted by "scientists". She seeks the only person who can help her: Magneto. Set before first movie, about my OCxPyro. Read and review!
1. Past

**This is all my own character. Apart from the obvious. So there.**

X men Origins

Glacier

Evelyn Walsh looked on with glee as her brother, Morgan tore into his birthday present. His eyes lit up as he saw the box. "Wow! Thank you Evie!" He flung himself at her lap, a bundle of curly brown hair and woolly jumper. "Super hyper-killer robo-DJ!"

Evelyn giggled. "That's ok, I mean, I know you wanted it." She sat back and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

It was Morgan's third birthday, and although Evelyn was only five years old, she felt like she had to be more mature in giving gifts.

Her mother, a graceful, chestnut haired beauty, gazed proudly at her son. "Would you like some more cake, honey?" she asked lightly.

"Ooh, yes please mommy!" he clapped his hands together.

She smiled, and vanished in a puff of what looked like smoke. Instantly, she could be heard clattering in the kitchen of the house. Seconds later, she was back, two platefuls of gooey chocolate cake, which oozed and glistened in the light.

Morgan grabbed his. "Where's Daddy?" He asked, spraying cake crumbs onto his shirt.

"He's just coming, sweetheart."

Evelyn chewed her cake thoughtfully. She loved her Daddy, but he was always away. When he was gone, she did try to be good, but it was hard not to fight with her brother. She was much stronger than he was, but he had powers that meant he was very hard to catch. Like her mommy, he could vanish in a flash, but could also cling to walls. She didn't know how he could do it, but mommy said they mustn't fight. She said if Evelyn got too angry, she could hurt herself, or Morgan. Evelyn tried, but it was difficult not to go into a one of her trances. She got them when she was too angry, or upset. Her vision clouded, and she became out of control. Twice she had punched straight through a wall.

Evelyn looked up. Mommy was standing, gazing at the window in shock.

"Mommy?" she whispered.

She didn't answer. "Edward…" she gasped.

Evelyn stood up, and slipped her hand into her's. "Mommy?" she said again.

The woman still didn't answer. But gripped her hand so tightly it hurt. Evelyn whimpered, and pulled it away. She looked out of the window again, and saw a shape loping up the front lawn. Her breathing was fast as the figure slowly arrived at the door.

The sound of the doorbell made her twitch. Her mother ran to it, and opened it with a faint scream.

Her Daddy, his face covered in what looked like…red paint? Maybe. His breathing was ragged, and he collapsed at her mother's feet. "Lillian…" he croaked. "Get…them…out of…here!"

Lillian heaved him upright. "Who? What! Edward!"

"They're coming…" Edward gasped, and hauled himself forwards. He fell to the floor with a thud.

Lillian's scream echoed dimly in Evelyn's ears. She watched helplessly as her mother pulled and tugged at her father, screaming his name over and over again.

Morgan tugged her hand. "Evie?" He whimpered. Evelyn looked down at him.

"Mommy?" She said, louder.

Lillian looked up, face stained with tears. "Children…" She stood up, and stumbled over to them. She squeezed them tightly, then grabbed their hands. "We have to go."

"But…"

"No! We have to go right now!" She began dragging them to the back door.

Evelyn ran, tripping over her feet. They were almost at the door, when dark shapes crowded the small window. Lillian gasped, and pulled them back to the sitting room, where Edward still lay, still.

They were already there. The men, all dressed in black. With guns pointing at all of their bodies.

Lillian straightened up. "Get out." She said, in a voice so terrible it made Evelyn want to cry.

The men didn't move. "Get down on the floor!" They shouted, voices muffled from inside their curious helmets.

Morgan began to cry, loud, gasping sobs. Lillian patted him desperately, trying to soothe him, but he just wailed louder.

The tallest of the men stepped forwards. "You have to come with us."

"Let my children go." Lillian growled. "They've done nothing to you."

"All of you freaks. Come with us right now, or we will have to use force."

"No." Lillian's voice was quiet.

There was a terrible silence, all apart from Morgan's sniffs.

"Fine." The man gestured to the others. They all clicked their guns, and tiny red dots appeared all over Evelyn's T-shirt. She poked them with her finger.

The man turned his back on them, and Lillian leapt forwards, shielding Morgan and Evelyn with her body. She gripped them tightly, and her body juddered sickeningly as thousands of bullets pounded into her back. Evelyn screamed, grabbing Morgan. He gripped her tightly, and closed his eyes. He was trying to vanish. Evelyn knew that look. He squeezed her hand too tight she gasped in pain. He couldn't do it. He was too scared, just like her mother. He cried out as one of the men grabbed his arm and pulled. "Evelyn!" He yelled, gripping her fingers.

Evelyn couldn't move, it was like her body was frozen. Her vision clouded, and she was filled with unimaginable rage. Red. All she saw was red. Her hands began to shake, and she could feel something piercing the skin of her face. She pointed at the men dragging her brother away, and a large shard of glass shot out of the top of her hand, and three tiny ones out of the ball of it. He yelled out in pain as it went straight through his stomach. She whirled around, hitting all of them. They all must die. Tears fell down her cheeks as she heard their dying screams. Suddenly, arms wrapped around her middle, a small pin jabbing into her neck. She fell limply into the arms that were holding her.

"We're taking you away." She heard through a roaring in her ears. "A place where you can be looked after."


	2. Present

Chapter two

Glacier opened her sore eyes. She could hear the faint drip, drip, drip of water. Someone was screaming in another room. Again. She lifted her head from the floor of her cell. Or "room", as they like to call it. She sat up, and ran her hands over her ragged face, wincing as her fingers were cut by the four, needle sharp, points of glass that pierced her cheekbones, a thin line of deadly shards. Her skin healed over instantly.

She stood, and walked to the metal door that waited ominously to open. She peeked out of the small, barred window that was set in it. They would be coming for her soon. To take her to that dark, hellish place they called "the Lab". She ran her fingertips lightly over the thin, bloody scar that ran all the way from her hand to the top of her arm. She could heal, but they had cut so often and deep that her body couldn't handle it. The scars would be there forever. She wandered over to the long, plastic mirror that lined the opposite wall. It was two-way, but she could still use it. After ten years stuck here, she had gotton used to being watched. She looked at herself, allowing herself to show no emotion. A thin, pale girl of about fifteen stared back at her, purple circles under the cool, pale, silver eyes. Glacier reached out to touch her hair. It hung limply around her gaunt face, a thick curtain of black, streaked with white that sparkled when it caught the light. Like glass. She rubbed her hands, the places where the shards flew out innocent and harmless. She turned away, unable to look at her own face. So scarred it looked like someone else's. Strategic lines ran from her temple to her jawbone one side, and from her jaw to down her neck the other. She couldn't see the ones on her eyelids, but she knew they were there. Two straight scars running from each side. Faint now, but still deep.

She knew why they did it. To see what was inside her, they had to open her up. Again and again, just to see the same thing. Glass. Smooth and shining, her entire skeleton was made of it. Wait, her veins too. And her heart as well. Come to think of it, she was told her entire insides were made of glass. They told her it made her weak, but she thought it made her strong. Glass doesn't have emotions. It doesn't bend, or flex. It was resilient, and she was made of special glass, she was told. Not breakable, but as strong as metal. They said she was like someone else, with a metal skeleton, but he was made like that. She was born this way, and that made her even more special. She wasn't like anyone else. If anyone said that, she would kill them. Just like she'd killed her brother when she was five. She bit her lip. It was an accident, she was so angry she couldn't see. She forced it to the back of her mind.

Footsteps clanked on the metal floors. They were here, to take her away. She squared her shoulders, and faced the door.

Glacier allowed herself to be frog-marched to the Lab. Her feet barely even had to move, the big, hulking men supported her that much. It wasn't like she was going to run away. She learnt her lesson the first three times, but she'd been young and naive. Any hop or happiness inside her was long gone. She was just a hollowed out shell, without any feeling or emotions. Except anger.

The huge grey door loomed out of the harsh green lights. Hallways were lit like that, but she didn't know why. More importantly, she didn't care. Why should she? Anyone else in this place was meaningless, below her. She was the reason why this place was still going. She knew that she was the most important project. Screams and yells echoed around her ears, but she ignored them. Meaningless.

They had reached the door, and one of the beasts that held her arm swiped a key card through a small panel on the wall. The door opened with a sound like air escaping from a tomb. Glacier's hair blew around her as the men forced her in.

Through the gloom, she could see the object of her nightmares. A large chair, designed to fight around whoever was in it. Heavy metal clasps flopped down the arms, to hold the person down, to stop them from killing the "scientists". There were some on the ankles too. Lastly, Glacier dragged her eyes to the worst contraption of all: the helmet. That was her name for it. A thin, wiry thing that clung to the forehead, and stopped you head from moving. It helped them when it was time to do the "head examinations".

She was marched towards it, and strapped down roughly. Clasps slammed shut, as a man walked calmly into the light.

A pale, wrinkly man, who had the stance that made him look like a praying mantis.

Glacier stared back at his large, magnifying eyes. She hated him, but he knew that. What's more, he adopted a cool, patronising gleam in his eyes when he looked at her.

"Good morning Glacier," he said in a high, reedy voice. "How are you today?"

She glared at him. "Thirsty." She croaked.

He sighed. "You'll get water soon. Once we've run our routine exams."

She looked away, into the corner. She wasn't going to beg for water, that would show weakness, and she knew what would happen then. It was like a subtle game they were playing. If she was good, and behaved, then she would be rewarded. If not, then…more exams. More "trials".

"We're going to start the tests now, unless, you are…not well today?" He smiled at her, without any emotion.

She ignored him, and he nodded. He turned to one of the faceless nurses, who approached him out of the shadows behind him. They moved silently into position around Glacier's body. She gritted her teeth. They turned and grasped one of the many needles, with long, rubbery tubes dangling from them. Glacier didn't flinch as they inserted them into her arms and legs. She didn't move as she felt the liquids that would paralyse her flowed around her veins. Dr Leese pulled on his blue, latex gloves, and fastened his goggles over his eyes. "Now, Glacier, we're going to be doing something we haven't done in a while." He bent over her face, and smiled again. "We're going to see if the drugs we gave you has had any affect on your…skeleton."

Glacier's eyes widened in horror. They weren't…they couldn't! He'd promised her! She desperately tried to move, but her arms ignored her. The needles hadn't given her pain suppressants, just something that stopped her moving. She stared helplessly as he turned away from her, and picked up a shining, cold scalpel off a small tray. "Now, this may hurt, but of course," he smiled again, "you won't be able to stop it."

Glacier's lungs felt like they were going to burst as he delicately slit her old scars down her arms open. She watched helplessly as her bone was exposed. She didn't bleed much, but oh hell, did she feel pain. The bone gleamed innocently back at her, and she closed her eyes, not able to look at it.

Dr Leese sighed. "Well, well. Looks like it didn't help much, did it?" He was talking like she was a dummy, and not able to understand him. He sighed again, whilst Glacier was recoiling and squirming with pain inside. "Ah well." He moved back. "Nurse, close her up, and when you're done, give her half the normal dosage of medicine." He looked into Glacier's eyes, not really seeing the person inside. "Less is more," he muttered. "I'll start the head exams."

Glacier felt her hair being pressed down as her gently pulled the helmet over her head. He stuck three thin tubes into her cheeks, carefully avoiding the glass. "Right, let's have a look." He grasped the thin needles that the nurse handed to him. "Recline her."

The chair dropped slowly to a straight level. Dr Leese carefully jabbed the needles into her face, one by one, until her cheekbones were covered. Glacier writhed with pain inside.

"I think…yes, we will do eye's today as well." Dr Leese seemed to be talking to himself.

Oh no, thought Glacier. She would be seeing red dots for weeks if he did it wrong.

They pulled some extension wires that had tiny ovals on the ends down from the helmet. They stuck them on her eyelids, after forcing her to close her eyes.

"Gently does it," murmured Dr Leese, as he inserted two needles into the middle of the ovals.

Glacier screamed.

The nurses jumped. "Quick, she's over come the drugs again!" Dr Leese squealed.

Glacier couldn't open her eyes, everything was dark. Needles were everywhere, blinding her with pain. She roared with anger, and threw herself from side to side, trying to get free. But she was still wearing the helmet. The nurses grabbed her arms, and held her still, as Dr Leese carefully pulled the needles out of her eyes.

They flew open. Dr Leese watched in horror as the rolling, bloody orbs found their mark. Him. He backed up against the corner as Glacier screamed again, ripping at the metal clasps. One pinged open, and she punched one of the nurses. The woman flew through the air, landing in a heap at the end of the Lab. Glacier ripped open the other clasps, and jumped from the chair. She reached up, and yanked out the helmet, leaving blood trails over her face. She whipped around, firing the deadly shards into everything. The nurses, the walls, the chair, the cupboards. Finally, it was just her and him left.

Glacier stood, panting, her arms rigid by her sides. Blood trickled down her arms, before the skin closed over it. She stared at the frail man cowering before her. He slid to the floor, and held up his hands. "Please…please…I was trying to help you…" He gasped.

She stepped forwards. "You were…helping me," she asked in a low voice.

He nodded franticly.

She tilted her head to one side. "Then maybe you should have my help." She grabbed his collar, and threw him across the room. He landed with a sickening crack against the next wall. She walked over to him, and heaved him up again. "Does this feel like help?" She growled, and threw him onto the chair. His head lolled around as she fastened the clasps around him. "No…no…please…" he gasped.

She ignored him, and picked up the scalpel, twirling it in her fingers. "Let's start with the routine exams, shall we?" she asked sweetly, and plunged the knife into his arm. He screamed, but all Glacier could hear was a roaring in her ears. She dragged it upwards, feeling the veins snap underneath it. She left it sticking out of his arm, and moved slowly up to his head. "We'll do the head now," she said gently and quietly as he cringed and rolled. "But, unfortunately, I've broken the helmet. We'll have to do it without."

"No…"

She turned and picked up one of the needles. "We'll do it bit by bit shall we?"

He gasped as she stuck the needles into his face, but his strength was leaving him. He'd lost so much blood.

Glacier left the best until last. She leant very close to his blood-filled ear. "Did you really think that I would let you see the hell that you've put me through." She turned her back on him slowly, and selected a fine-tipped needle. "You're going to die, Doctor," she said, emotionlessly. "But you know what the funny thing is?" She approached him carefully. He lolled on the table, his face going slack as he stared at her in horror through the array of needles. "I'll tell you." She looped an arm round his head, lifting his face up, tenderly. "You've probably had more life than I have, but yet," She pulled out one of the needles on his cheek. "I get the feeling that you're less prepared to die than I am." She smiled coldly. "Not my best, but" she lunged suddenly, and pierced his eye with the needle. He screamed again, and gurgled into death. "It'll do for now."

She dropped him, brushing her hands off. She thought about escape, but…where would she go? Should she crawl back to her room, like a badly behaved dog? Or should she run, and never look back. She looked at her hands, bloody and trembling. There was nothing she could do. She turned as the door creaked open, and several guards ran in. She knew they would come. She let them sedate her, and drag her back to her cell. There was nothing anyone could do to her now.

Glacier sat, hands wrapped around her knees. She was staring at the large mirror. Just staring at the people behind it. She didn't blink as the door to her cell opened with a loud shift of locks. She didn't move as footsteps walked slowly in, accompanied by a strange sound, like wheels. She didn't look round as the door shut again, leaving her alone with the strangers.

"Hello," a rich voice said. A polite, English voice.

She didn't move.

"It's alright, we won't hurt you," the voice reassured.

She still ignored it.

_We're here to help you, _the voice whispered to her. She twitched. The voice was there, inside her head. _Please turn around. You can trust me._

Glacier got slowly up, and turned around. She was scared of what she might see, scared of what new terror they had in store for her.

Instead, she saw a man in a chair with wheels, and a silent, calm man standing beside him, with red glasses on. How odd. The man in the chair smiled at her. "Thank you," he said, sounding genuine. The man beside him didn't move. Glacier stared at him coldly. Why wouldn't he say anything? She didn't trust him. The man in the chair looked up at him. "This is Scott," he said.

Scott smiled slightly. Glacier still glared at him.

The man in the chair continued. "My name is Professor Xavier."

Glacier's eyes snapped to his face. It looked open and kindly. She felt and explicable…safeness around him. Like nothing could hurt her, ever again.

"Would you like to tell us your name?" he asked gently.

She opened her mouth slightly. She could tell him, he was to be trusted. "Glacier," she whispered. Why, why was it so hard to tell others her real name?

He smiled again. "That's a very nice name," he said quietly.

Glacier looked at her toes. _It's alright, you can say your real name. Please don't be scared. _She looked up at the professor's face. Was he…?

_You know it's rude to poke around in my head without asking, _she thought.

_He laughed. That's what I would have said. You know, we have more in common than you think, you and I. _

Glacier thought of what she had done a few hours ago, killing the nurses. _Would you do that? Would anyone do that? _She looked down again. _No one who did that could be human. Please, go away._

_No. I am here because I want to help you. There is a place that you can come to, a place where people like you are understood. Where nothing can hurt you._

_I used to think there could be places like that, _remembered Glacier. _But then my family was killed in it. Now, I know that wherever I go, I'll be a freak._

_It doesn't have to be that way. _Xavier's eyes crinkled as he smiled. _Come with me, and you'll be safe, I promise._

Glacier thought of her father, her mother, and Morgan. Morgan…He was dead because of her. She couldn't leave this place. It was all she knew. She stayed because of him, to make up for the terrible thing she did. Nothing, nothing could ever change that.

_I'm sorry. But I won't go with you. _She looked deep into his eyes. _I think you know why._

_You don't have to stay here. Please, I don't want to see you hurt._

_What if that's the only thing that I feel makes me who I am? Go. Thank you, but go._

Xavier blinked, and the connection was broken. "Scott," he said quietly. "We have to go."

Glacier watched them go with cold eyes. She wanted to cry, and laugh at the same time. Why didn't she go? She turned her back on the door, and sat back down, staring at the mirror, and instead looking at the girl who stared back at her with murder in her eyes.

_Evelyn walked through wood lined halls. It looked like the inside of a stately home, but it couldn't be. She jumped as several children ran, laughing past her. They rounded a corner, and she was left in silence again._

"_Hello again."_

_She turned at the sound of Professor Xavier's voice. "Hello," she replied._

"_Walk with me." He started rolling forwards._

_She walked silently beside him, the sunlight filtering around her. "Where am I?"_

"_In a dream that I gave to you," he said simply._

"_Is this place real?"_

"_Yes. This is my school. The place were I offered for you to come." He turned around a corner, as more children, older this time, walked past them, holding books and chattering. They smiled at Professor Xavier. "These are my pupils, mutants, like you. They came here because their families wanted them too, or because they had nowhere else to go."_

"_It sounds too good to be true," Evelyn said._

"_Here you can be yourself, Evelyn."_

_She stiffened at the sound of her real name._

"_Come, there is something more." Xavier led her to her a round part of wall, which slid across to reveal a white interior. "This is the part of my school which is a little more interesting."_

_Evelyn followed him into a white lined hall, which glowed around her. "What is this place?"_

"_Follow me." Xavier led her down more halls, before they reached a large round door, with a sleek silver X imprinted on it. A beam of blue light shone into his eyes, and with a smooth "Welcome Professor." the doors opened._

_Evelyn looked around the huge round room. "What is this?" she whispered._

"_Welcome to Cerebro. This is how I'm communicating with you." Xavier smiled at her. "Have you had second thoughts?"_

"_Why me?" Evelyn asked suddenly. "What makes me so special?"_

_Xavier sighed. "What makes you special, Evelyn, is that you have been hiding for so long, you have forgotten who you are. You could be somebody here, be loved and accepted. Isn't that what you want?"_

_Evelyn looked away. "I get…angry. I can't control it."_

"_But you can!" Xavier wheeled closer. "I can help you. That's all I want to do."_

_Evelyn looked at him with narrowed eyes, remembering who she was, where she was in the real world. "Fine, I'll come." She agreed. "But I do it my way. I'll find you. If you get in my way, I will kill you."_

"_You don't have to kill anyone, Evelyn."_

_She looked at him. "My name is Glacier."_


	3. Escape

**Many thanks to all the people who helped me get off my a***e and write this. It's short because it's better that way, honest!**

Chapter 3

Glacier's eyes snapped open. This was real, and she knew what she had to do. She swung her legs out of her bed, and walked over to mirror. She smiled coldly. "You've been watching me for too long." She raised her arm, and shot a shard into the glass. It splintered, and crashed open. She looked at the two men who had been there, both dead. Her shard had pierced one through the chest, and the other had been skewered by a large piece of mirror.

She stepped carefully through the broken mirror. She walked quietly to the door in the corner of the tiny room. Opening, she looked down a long, dim hallway. No guards. Shame, she was expecting more of a fight. She crept out of the room, keeping close to the walls. She spotted a scientist coming out of a silver door. She ran up and pounced on him, grabbing him in a headlock. "Remember me?" she hissed, and broke his neck. She could remember the way out from her last escape attempt, years ago. She dropped the guy, and crept along more halls. Through doors, across rooms, no resistance. She stopped at the last door. Through here, and she was free. It all seemed too easy. Because it was. They knew what she was doing. She carefully opened the door, and slammed it shut again, still inside. The guards who were following her would think she'd left. She backed into a dark corner, waiting.

Sure enough, dozens of white-clad guards crept around the corner, gripping guns. She had to admire their preparation. They weren't taking any chances. They came closer and closer, as she waited, silently for them. She could take them all, easy. She was so angry it would hardly be an effort. She watched them through her silver-grey eyes. Waiting, waiting, now!

She pounced out of her hiding place with a scream of anger. She scissor-kicked two of them in the stomach, and they hurtled back into another. Great, three down and I'm not even trying, she thought. Another grabbed her from behind, and she tightened up, slithering out of his arms to the floor. She ducked behind him, and fired a shard into the back of his head. He bellowed in pain, and dropped to the floor, blood spilling everywhere.

Two others grabbed her from each side, one gripping her shoulders, the other wrapping his tree-trunk like arms around her waist. She squirmed, but couldn't get free. She kneed the one in front in the groin, and used his balled-up body to power her legs. She used him as a sort of lever, to shift her weight onto the other guy, and flip up and over him. He fell over backwards, and she kicked him round the head, knocking him out. The twelve guards that were left formed a circle around her. She stood and panted, trying to catch her breath. Her hair was matted with blood, and more trickled down her arms, from where the shards came out. She stared at them all through her hair, not moving. Her body shook with anger and pain. She lifted her arms, and, to her amazement, all the shards she had let go twitched and rose to the air. Her eyes widened. She never knew she could do that! The shards zipped over to her, stabbing several guards in the back as they came. Easy! Glacier launched herself into the air, spinning and firing glass everywhere. She landed like a cat on her feet, one hand steadying herself on the blood-stained floor. She stood up swiftly, firing at a guard running at her. Another ran up behind her, and she looked at him, hair whipping around her face. A shard flew up and pierced his chest. She turned, and kicked another in the stomach, another in the head. Everything whirled around her, coming at her from all sides. She couldn't see, it was so fast. She let her instincts take over, and let her shards fly everywhere, as she just stood still, in the middle of all the carnage. She slowly turned around in a circle, still letting shards fly out of her. Blood spattered her face as she killed more people. More and more. She didn't want to look. More blood, more screaming, more death. She opened her eyes and stood perfectly still. All dead. Every single one of them. This was her victory, and all she felt was a strange buzz inside her head. She looked around at the guards lying at her feet, glass sticking out of every orifice.

She turned to look at the door, her heartbeat settling. Soon, more men would come. She could hear them already. No more, she decided. As she began walking slowly and gracefully to the door, men with guns took up position behind her. They began firing, but Glacier made the shards of glass form a wall behind her as she ignored them, still walking to the door that meant freedom for her. One of the bullets shot through her shoulder, and she stopped. She turned slowly to look at the people trying to kill her. Her hands balled into fists, and she began shaking again. She lifted her arms straight out in front of her and pointed at them. Her hair swirled around her face from behind as the shards shot forwards, killing them all in an instant. She then turned and walked through the door, dimly aware that she was still making the shards kill the guards. Senses she never knew she had were tingling. She could feel…everything. She reached out a hand, and snapped the lock in two like it was paper. She opened the door, and her hair flew out behind her as a wind whispered through the open door. She closed her eyes, letting her skin be soothed by the breeze. She stepped out of the place that had tortured her for so long, and opened her eyes. Sunlight beamed down on the ice-white skin. She stretched out her arm, watching as the sunlight glinted of it like…well, like glass. She turned and looked back though the door. Through the bodies and blood. Looking at the pain, the sadness, the anger that made her head cloud. She blinked, and all the shards of glass flew out of the dismal hallway, to hover at her side. She turned, and sent a few back to slam into the door. She didn't stop walking as she heard it shut with a loud, metallic bang. She wouldn't stop for anything now. She felt an incredible lightness in her, as if she could lift her feet, and fly. In a way, she already was. Flying away to freedom. She felt a small smile creep at her lips. She was free.


	4. Lab Rat

**Big thanks to my favourite band (Snow Patrol) to their help with this chapter. Just thought I'd say.**

Chapter 5

Glacier opened her eyes sluggishly. Someone was picking her up gently. She wanted to tell them to back off, but she couldn't. She was still half-asleep.

"Hey Scott," a female voice said gently and quietly. That was nice, being quiet.

"Hey sweetie," Scott's voice replied tenderly. Sweetie? He was such a softy.

"How is she?" Ah, now she recognised that velvety voice. The Professor.

"Fine, she's been sleeping for nearly three hours." Scott said. Three hours? That's not much.

"Ok, put her down on the bed." Jean (It must be Jean) said quietly.

Glacier felt herself be lowered onto something soft. Nice, a real bed.

"You sure she won't mind this?" asked Scott. Hmm, that was odd. Mind what?

"I'm sure," the Professor said. "I'm holding her so she won't panic."

Hold me? What does that mean? What's happening? Why can't I move!

"Ok, here we go."

She could hear someone picking up something metallic. Oh no. No no no no no! This couldn't be happening! She'd trusted them! She tried to move, but couldn't move. Distantly, she felt something small prick her arm, barely noticeable, but she was waiting for something to jam into her, waiting for the intense burn. It never came.

_Ssh, it's over. _The Professor was in her head again.

_Huh?_

_It's over. It was only a small injection. We wanted to see what blood type you were, to check for infection and to see if you are safe. That's all._

_Really? But then, what was that…little sting?_

_That was it. Just there. We're here to look after you, not hurt you._

_Oh._

_Didn't you believe us?_

_I want to open my eyes. Now._

Glacier's eyes opened slowly. She was a large, shiny white room. The walls seemed to glow, and the light gleamed after various medical equipment. There was a woman standing with her back to her, her long auburn hair waving down her back. She was dressed simply in a white coat. Glacier stared at her for a while. The woman turned, holding a needle of clear liquid. Then she looked up, meeting Glacier's cool, liquid silver eyes.

"Hello," she said gently. Everything about her was gentle. Even the expression on her face, kind look in her eyes and slight smile that crept at her lips. Glacier could see why Scott was so…dopey when he looked at her picture.

"Hi." Glacier shifted, feeling the cool material that hung loosely around her. She looked down, and saw she was wearing white pyjamas, and was covered with a grey blanket. She wiggled her toes, just to check she still could. "Where am I?"

"You're in the Infirmary, in Xavier's School." Jean came closer, setting the needle down on a little table. Glacier eyed it suspiciously.

Jean saw where she was looking. "It's ok, you're not going to have any more shots if you don't want to."

"Can I get up yet?"

Jean laughed. "Not quite yet, we want to take a quick scan of your skeleton. It'll only take a minute, and it won't hurt."

Glacier was silent for a while. "Ok," she said. She trusted Jean for a reason she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Jean smiled at her. "You can get up, but only to walk over to the scanner, I'm afraid."

Glacier smiled. She swung off the blanket, and jumped down from the bed. She walked slowly, her bare feet making little padding sounds against the cold floor.

Jean held out a hand to help steady her as she climbed up the slight step, and lay down on the flat surface. She took it, and tried to relax as she lay down again. She was a tight as a violin string.

"Ok," Jean went to stand by the computer by the scanner. "Ready?"

Glacier nodded curtly.

"Alright," Jean murmured, and pressed a few buttons. "Here we go."


	5. Part of a team?

Chapter 6

John flicked his lighter open, and closed, and open again. Bobby watched him with distracted amusement. John flicked it closed, and sighed. "Hey, you know there's supposed to be a new kid in today?"

Bobby jumped, and looked at him. "Huh?" he responded intelligently.

"New kid. In. Toady. You follow?" John said slowly.

"Really, where'd you hear that, man?"

"Just around." John shrugged, and stared with his lighter again. Open, closed, open, closed, open. He lifted a hand, and caught a tendril of flame. He held it in his palm for a bit, before closing his fist around it. "What'd you think they're gonna be like?"

Bobby shrugged this time. "Dunno. Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Girl, I think." John stared dimly into the distance. "Hope she's pretty."

Bobby rolled his eyes, and sat back in his chair. The classroom was full of chattering, buzzing kids. Some were actually buzzing. "Jeez man, I thought the summer would change you."

"Nope." John flashed a grin at him. "Wouldn't change even if I wanted to."

Bobby smiled. "What time…"

John sat up straight suddenly. "Whoa," he breathed.

Bobby turned, and saw what the entire room was staring at. The new girl had arrived.

Glacier stopped in the doorway, watching all the people suddenly looking at her. She didn't respond, or smile, or show any expression at all. Just watched them. Finally, a few turned away, bored. A few others averted their gazes from her scarred face. But some still stared at her. A boy with tousled blond hair, a boy with short brown hair and an open, innocent face, and girl with short black hair. The girl turned away slowly, loosing interest, but the two boys still stared at her. She saw with an inward groan that the only free desk was next to the one with blond hair. Great. She walked slowly over to the fated desk, and slid down to sit in the chair behind it. She placed her hands on the cool wood, and stared at the front of the class.

Still the boy stared at her. His friend kicked him, and he jumped, and grinned at her. She turned her head, and looked at him. He was still grinning at her. She narrowed her eyes at him. He grinned wider, and flicked open a lighter in his hands.

The other boy sighed, and slid out of his chair. "Hey!" he said, coming over to her desk.

She looked up at him. "Hi," she said quietly.

He smiled at her, a friendly look in his eyes. "I'm Bobby," he stated.

"Glacier."

The blond guy decided to speak. "That's a funny name."

She turned to stare at him. "I don't think so."

He smiled again, and laughed slightly.

"John, stop being such an ass!" Bobby hissed at him.

He stopped smiling, and went back to playing with his lighter.

Glacier smiled at Bobby.

He smiled back at her. "So, where'd you come from?" he asked easily.

Her smile vanished. "Um, I…"

She was saved by a woman coming into the room. She had long silver hair, and she was very pretty. Glacier thanked her silently for saving her answering.

Bobby hurried back to his seat, and sat down. All the class had slipped silently into their chairs, and were watching her intently. Glacier copied them.

The woman scanned the class, and caught sight of the new girl sitting next to John. She smiled slightly. Poor her. She quickly set the class some work, and breezed over to where she sat, large silver eyes watching her. They reflected the light from the window, like a cat's. "Hello," she said gently.

Glacier looked into her eyes. "Hello." She replied, woodenly.

"My name is Storm," Storm said.

"Glacier."

"I hope you will be happy here, Glacier," Storm smiled at her.

Glacier just stared at her.

Storm was a little taken aback. She knew what had happened to this girl, but she was so...unemotional. There was absolutely nothing behind those eyes. She turned and walked back to the front of the class.

Glacier looked back down at her hands. She was still aware that John was still staring at her. She turned to him. "Would you stop staring at me?" She whispered.

He smiled at her. "Why?"

"Because it's annoying me," she replied.

"Sorry." John was silent for a while. He flicked open his lighter again, and made a tiny fireball in his palm.

Glacier couldn't stop her eyes from straying over to the little orb of light. It was so beautiful.

John shuffle closer to her desk, and held out the fireball a bit. He smiled as he saw her eyes reflect the fire. He didn't know why, but he wanted to interest her. He made the ball get bigger, and spew out little sparks. They landed on her desk, as if a little dragon was spitting on it. They made little ripples against the white paper of her books, and he frowned with concentration, controlling the sparks.

She jumped as a few landed on her skin, but they didn't burn her, her skin closing quickly over the burns. She looked up at him, and her eyes showed some emotion. Wonder, and warmth. He looked into her eyes, and watched them light up, as if a glowing light had been ignited behind them. The flames in his hand lept and crackled, growing dangerously close to her. She didn't notice. She was scrutinising his features, as if burning them into her already mangles brain. The flames seared and exploded into a fireball. It scorched across her desk, and onto her hands. She looked down at them, pulling her hands away. The fire died down as quickly as it had flared up. John was shocked, that had never happened before, and he glanced at his hands worriedly, then looked over at Glacier.

She held her hands up to her face. They were glowing, bright amber, as if flames were running through her veins. She turned them each and every angle, studying them. It felt like fire was searing through her entire body. Of course, glass. She was made of it! Mix glass and fire…oops. She turned back to John, a slight smile on her face. He looked shocked and looked at her glowing fingers. She looked back at them, and watched as the veins returned to their normal, silvery shine, and faded. Cool. She looked at John, and smiled wickedly. He looked into her eyes again, and smiled back, the same gleam in his eye that was echoed in hers.

Bobby cleared his throat slightly. John jumped, and looked over to him. He jerked his head slightly, and John looked quickly to the front of the class. Storm, and every single pupil in the room was staring at them. He grinned at them, and Glacier just stared at them.

"Sorry," John whispered, as they began to get on with their lesson.

"It's fine," Glacier replied.

He looked back down at his desk. "Wanna…" He was interrupted by the bell sounding, it's harsh clangs echoing into his ears.

Glacier slipped out of her seat, and hitched her bag up onto her shoulders. "Wanna what?"

"Eat lunch with me and Bobby?" John finished.

Glacier opened her mouth, but stopped. "Professor Xavier said he wanted to see me," she said quietly.

John looked disappointed, but tried not to show it. He was unsuccessful.

Glacier smiled to herself. It was true, Xavier and Jean said they wanted to talk to her. "Sorry," she said, and there was an awkward silence. "Ok…I'll, uh, see you around?" She certainly hoped she would.

John nodded gruffly. "Cool, see you." He turned and walked quickly back to his desk. "What!?" he growled at Bobby, who was watching him with a slightly bemused smile on his face.

Glacier shook herself as she walked to Xavier's study, letting herself be guided by him in her head. She didn't let herself have emotions. But when he looked at her…it felt like she was being lifted by angels. She remembered looking into his eyes, and being washed over by wave after wave of warmth. She dragged her mind away from John. She could hurt him. She was dangerous, a killer. And very, very messed up.

She knocked on the door, but a voice called out. "Come in Glacier."

She opened it. Jean, the Professor, Scott and Storm were all there. The Professor smiled at her. "How was your first lesson?"

She nodded, but didn't speak.

"I hear you had a little incident with John." The Professor looked at Storm.

Glacier opened her mouth, but closed it again. "Why did you want to see me?" She asked.

Jean stepped forwards. "It's about your test results."

Glacier didn't say anything.

"They show that your entire skeleton, and your organs are made of glass," Jean waited for a reaction, but it never came.

Glacier shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

Scott frowned. "Wait, you already knew that?"

"I spent ten years in a crazy medical place, I think I would know," Glacier said.

"Did you also know that they injected you with countless poisons? Or Toxins?"

"Oh, so that's what they were doing!"

The Professor frowned. "Glacier, I don't think you should be taking this so lightly, it's a very serious matter."

"Look," Glacier sighed, "I really appreciate you taking me in, but I can survive on my own now."

"Glacier…" Scott said.

"No, Scott," the Professor interrupted. "She's right. We have to just let her live her life."

"Thanks." Glacier turned, as if to walk out of the door, but was stopped by the Professor.

"That's not all we wanted to say," he said gently.

She turned. "Oh?"

He smiled. "How would you like to be part of a team?"


	6. Rocket Launcher

**Sorry it took me so long guys! Thanks for sticking with it!**

Chapter 7

"We are not just a school for the gifted, Glacier, we are a team of powerful beings, who seek to do good in the world. This might not be apparent at first glance, but it is we who are keeping a group of mutants from completely wiping out the humans. We need your help."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the only one who has seen the darkness of the human nature, and come out the other side, with your mortality intact."

Glacier snorted at Xavier's words. "And how exactly am I supposed to help?" She looked around at the dark wood walls of the corridor down which they were walking. "Doesn't look like much."

Xavier smiled. "Just, follow me." He wheeled over to a small opening in one of the walls. The dark wood slid open to reveal a white tube-like porthole. Glacier gingerly stepped inside, following Xavier. Scott followed her. The white door hissed shut, and Glacier jumped. Another door behind them opened at the same time. She found she was looking into the hallway that she had walked through in her dream. "Whoa." She breathed.

"We may not look like fighters, Glacier, but I think you will find more to us than reaches the eye," Xavier continued, leading her across the halls.

Glacier cast a glance at Scott. "Tell me different, but you don't look like a fighter to me."

Scott raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, saying nothing.

"I mean, a fighter seems like they would have more…muscle than you guys do! And be bigger. A meaner, and have some cool power, like…I dunno, claws or really pointy teeth or something." Glacier rattled on.

Xavier smiled. "We don't have anyone like that here, but I admit it would be a nice change."

Scott scowled.

Xavier led them to a big, circular door. He stopped right in front of it.

"Wow. Ominous," Glacier said sadistically.

"Just watch." Xavier opened the door, revealing a huge room. Almost like a hanger.

Glacier caught her breath as dozens of floor lights lit up a sleek, shiny jet. "Oh…boy, did I get the wrong impression of you guys!"

Scott and Xavier smiled.

Glacier looked around the hanger. "What, no spaceship?"

"It's on commission," Scott told her.

Glacier gave him an odd look, then turned to Xavier. "So, got anymore cool gadgets?" She placed her hands on her hips.

"We have no need for them, we are mutants after all."

"Ok then, uniforms or something. Come on, you guys are superheroes, you got to at least have capes!"

Scott rolled his eyes. "This way," he sighed, and led the way to the uniform room.

"So, what do you say?" Xavier asked pleasantly, over a steaming cup of earl grey. "Would you like to join us?"

Glacier eyed him. She had her arms folded across her chest, and was leaning back into one of the armchairs in Xavier's study. She leaned forwards. "I dunno," she replied at last. "I guess it would be…awesome to work with you guys, but I think I'd just…be able to look out for me, if you get what I mean."

Xavier raised his eyebrows. "I see. So, what would like to do? Just be an ordinary student? Or be one of the most amazing fighters for freedom that this world has ever seen?"

Glacier half smiled at him. "I bet you say that to everybody."

Xavier looked confused. "No, just you. So far."

Glacier leant back again. "I'll think about it. But can't I just be a kid for a couple of weeks? I was nothing more than a weapon, a failed experiment for ten years. I don't want to have escaped from the devil I knew, only to find that the sanctuary I found was simply the devil I didn't?"

"I understand completely, Evelyn. Just promise me…you'll think about it?"

Glacier stiffened at the sound of her true name. "Maybe." She got up in one fluid motion. "I'll see you around."

"Certainly. Oh and by the way…" Xavier looked over his shoulder at her retreating back. "I believe that young John is very eager to see you again."

Glacier fought the desire to turn around and swear at him. She stalked off.

She almost ran into John outside the Professor's door. She jumped back instinctively. "What the…?"

John jumped too. "Oh, uh, sorry, um, I wasn't…I didn't know…were you…?" He blabbered, avoiding her eyes.

She rolled her eyes, and turned to walk away. He followed her, running to draw level to her. "So…have you had lunch yet?"

"No."

"Great! Me neither!"

"I'm not hungry."

"Ok, we can just get a drink or something."

"What made you think I was thirsty?"

"Oh, nothing, I just thought…"

Glacier faced him. "Wait, what made you think you could just start stalking me?"

"I'm not…"

"Yes you are!" Glacier began walking again. "I mean, you already asked me if I wanted to eat with you, but I said I had to talk to Xavier, which was true, by the way, and you decided to follow me. Which I find a little bit creepy, if you ask me, which you didn't, and…well…just…stop following me!"

"Ha!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That is the longest you ever spoke to me."

"Well, bully for you," Glacier muttered, and rounded a corner sharply.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

"Maybe."

"You don't, do you?" John said indignantly.

"What's it to you?"

"Ok, look, stop!"

Glacier stopped, and put her hands on her hips.

John came round to face her. "Ok, I've been as nice as I possibly can to you, and you've just been so…cold. Look, if you're really not interested, just tell me, but you don't have to be so rude about it. I was just trying to be friendly, and before you answer, I think we have great chemistry, which isn't something I've ever had before. So, just forget it." He sighed, and turned to walk away.

Glacier opened her mouth in astonishment. Damn, he was right. They did have great chemistry. Chute. "John, wait!" She called out to him.

He stopped, and turned with a swing of the head. "What is it, are you stalking me now?"

Glacier walked slowly up to him, as if treading on eggshells. "I'm…sorry. You're right. I am cold." She sighed, and rubbed her arms. "It's just, if you knew the things I've been through…"

"So tell me!" John said gently.

Glacier shook her head. Her fingers continued tracing patterns on her skin. Suddenly, a warm hand touched hers shyly. She looked up, and saw she was staring right into John's eyes. They were so blue…She blinked, and her fingers stiffened. "I can't…" she whispered, pulling her hand out of his. "I'm sorry."

"Why not?" He held on tighter.

"I could never…I haven't had anyone in so long…"

"Neither have I."

"It's not the same." Glacier sighed. "I mean no-one. Not even a friend to talk to. I would welcome an enemy, just so that I knew someone felt something for me."

"I feel something for you." John muttered.

Glacier didn't hear him. "Look, I wouldn't know how to…return feelings. I would just end up hurting your feelings. But you could never hurt mine." Her voice felt thick, and her throat began to close up as if she was going to cry. "Because I don't have any. I would just break your heart. And I wouldn't know."

"Glacier, come on. We would be great together. Please, I don't like being turned down." John tried to smile.

"I could hurt you," Glacier breathed, looking into his eyes.

He smiled. "No you wouldn't." He leaned in closer to her, and she didn't move. She closed her eyes.

"Hey, guys!" Bobby yelled, waving his arm. "What you up to?" He drew closer. "Oh, uh, sorry, am I…"

Glacier had leapt about a foot away from John at the sound of Bobby's voice. "No!" She cried, louder than she meant.

John ground his teeth, flicking his lighter open. "What do you want, Bobby?" He said, harsher than he'd meant.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you guys had had lunch yet." Bobby said brightly.

"I haven't." Glacier smiled at him and John.

"Great!" Bobby said. "I'm starved. "Coming John?"

John grinned. "Sure."


	7. Got fear?

**Sorry this took me so long, and sorry it's so short! Kinda got sidetracked with the Terminator movies, so I had to make sure I was over the whole "I'll be back" phase! Don't worry, no John Connor in this story (so far).**

Chapter 8

Glacier grasped her lunch tray tightly. Following Bobby and John's lead, she slid it onto the metal bars that ran lengthways along a long table, where sandwiches and fruit, puddings and crisps, hot potatoes and beans lay glistening and steaming on the shining surfaces. She copied what Bobby picked up, and whether her noticed this was uncertain to her. She picked the tray up again, and stuck close to the two boys, her eyes darting from side to side of the large cafeteria. Hundreds of kids, all different ages, chattered and munched happily. Glacier had never felt more like an outsider. In the mental facility she was given shapeless, colourless, flavourless food (if you could call it that) to eat. She thought that maybe it was the dozens of chemicals they constantly pumped her with kept her going. She never had any contact with the other "patients".

She jolted out of her reverie. Bobby has stopped in front of her, and she'd almost walked into him.

"We'll sit here," he said, and slid onto a seat. John sat opposite him.

Glacier looked at Bobby and John. She sat next to Bobby, and saw John's eyes narrow slightly. Or had she imagined it? She hid her smile behind her usual mask of indifference.

They sat in silence for a while. It felt like the constant noise was pressing down on Glacier. She wished that she…was more like everyone else. The she didn't have to hide who she was, what she was like, what she felt. She wished she didn't feel the need to deny her own name.

"Hey man, you wanna give us a light?" A gruff voice brought her back to reality. A burly boy stood over her, holding out a muscled, large hand.

"Excuse me?" Asked John, abandoning his lunch.

"A light, dude. Come on, I know you got one."

John smiled and turned back to his sandwich. "No can do, sorry."

The burly guy froze. "Why not?" He demanded in rough Texan drawl.

John half rose out of his seat and Glacier tensed. As did Bobby.

"Guys, come on!" He began to reason with them. "I don't think that Professor Xavier would like you smoking on the grounds, man, so why don't you just calm it down, ok?"

The guy's hands clutched into fists. "Suddup!" He growled.

Glacier let out a light chuckle.

He looked down at her. "What the hell are you laughing at, weirdo?"

She looked up slowly at him, her eyes a pool of silver. "I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, I was talking at you, freak. What the hell do you think you are?"

"I know you was talking at me." Glacier kept staring at him.

"Hey! Leave her out of this, asshole!" John yelled, and stood up, knocking his seat over. He strode over to her side of the table.

Burly guy stuck out a hand and shoved him over. "I said, what the hell do you think you are?"

Glacier stood up slowly. "None of your damn business, asshole." She kept her voice very quiet, ver aware that almost the entire cafeteria was watching the new girl, watching to see her boundaries. Waiting for her to loose control.

Burly guy laughed. "Don't call me asshole."

"Why not, asshole?" Glacier teased him.

"Stop it."

Glacier placed her hand on her hip. "Then stay away from me."

He stepped back, hands open, a taunting smile on his face. "I think everyone would rather stay away from you, darlin'." He looked at her very closely. "You come in here, and act as if you're better than all of us. As if you had it tougher than everyone else. Who the hell do you think you are, what could have happened to you that worse than everyone else?" He walked closer to where she stood. "You know what I think? I think that those scars, that you so modestly try to hide, I think you done 'em to yourself. Just to get more attention." He laughed, and turned to walk away.

Glacier's eyes narrowed. Her whole body was tingling, but it felt as thought she'd been stripped naked and electrocuted. She raised her hand, and grabbed the guy's leather jacket. He swore, and swung his arm around to hit her. She ducked, and hit him swiftly behind the knee. He yelled, and crumpled half to the floor. She kicked him hard in the back, and hit him with a tray around the head. She ducked down and threw him into a headlock. "You know what I think there tough guy?" she whispered in his ear. He trembled and tried to struggle. She tightened her grip. "Shall I tell you why I'm like the way I am?" She said, so quietly that only he could hear her.

Bobby watched in horrified fascination as Glacier whispered into the brute's ear. He saw as his eyes widened in shock and disgust. Glacier released him and stood up. The guy stayed on the floor. He looked up at her, his nose bleeding and a bruise forming on his forehead. The look of disgust, anger and the most terrible, deep fear was reflected in almost everyones' eyes. The kind of fear you feel when your mother leaves you on your own for the first time. The fear that you feel when the world seems to make no sense to you. The fear that Bobby felt as the cold, calm, ferocious girl walked back to him. John was standing as well, looking at her. Bobby watched as she walked towards him, and he placed a hand on her arm. The fear was tightening around his throat as he watched them walk out of the cafeteria together.


	8. Wish I didn't have to

Chapter 9

"You shouldn't have done that, you know." John sat forwards, turning his head to look at her. They were on the bench outside the school, the shade from the tree throwing deep cuts of darkness over their faces. He clasped his hands between his knees, and looked forwards again.

Glacier was quiet. "I know." She replied calmly. "But can you blame me?"

John laughed silently. "Of course not. But, you can't go around doing that. People don't like it."

"You liked it." Glacier looked at him piercingly.

John looked down at his hands, a gentle breeze ruffling his hair. "That's because I thought I'd never seen anything so terrifying."

Glacier's mouth opened slightly, then closed again. She too looked down.

John sighed deeply, and draped an arm around her shoulders. He leant back, and rested his leg on his other knee. "Well, one good thing came of that," he said.

Glacier sat back as well, and watched as kids filtered out of the school. "What's that?"

He smiled. "I don't think Bobby's ever thought I could be interested in just one girl." He squinted against the sunlight that suddenly burst through the branches.

"Are you?" Glacier asked him simply.

He didn't reply. They watched as a flock of birds flowed over the clear blue sky that seemed to seep into Glacier's very soul.

"I think it's a definite possibility," he told her.

Glacier's heart swelled until it felt like it would burst, but she didn't let it show. "You know I can't stay here." She said suddenly.

John's arm tensed. "What?"

"I don't fit in here. I'm better..."

"Better what?" John slid his arm off her shoulders and stared at her accusingly. "On your own?"

"Yes." Glacier looked him straight in the eye, refusing to let him think she was going to stay.

"Why?"

She sighed, and looked away. "I'm better off on my own, because I hurt people. I'm unpredictable, and very, very dangerous. It's better off this way."

"No..."

"Yes! Can't you see it? Everyone else can! I've been here, what, a day? I've already knocked someone out and proven that I can't be around people."

"Yes you can! Please, don't go!"

Glacier lifted her eyes to look into his. "I told you I may hurt you. It's your fault if you didn't take me seriously." She stood up, watching as a veil draped over his eyes, a veil that concealed any chance they had of being together. "Sorry," she said quietly. She walked away, across the lawn towards the school.

Glacier lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She'd lost him now. Maybe that was better. For him. Not so much for her. She could get over it though; she was used to loosing people. She sighed.

Swinging her legs over the bed, she rose and grabbed her jacket. That was all she had. She looked around her room. The only place that had offered her shelter, a chance of a home. Her only regret was that she had to turn it down so harshly. She opened the door of her room quietly. It had been hours since she'd spoken to anyone, and the gathering gloom hung over the school as the students drifted into dreams. Except one.

"Glacier?" John padded up behind her.

She froze. Damn! Turning slowly, she faced his, wiping sleep out of his eyes. "What?"

"What are you doing?" He looked at her clothes, coat on and boots ready. "You're leaving aren't you?"

"So?" She fidgeted. Why didn't she just run? "I told you I was."

John reached down suddenly and took her hand. "Don't." He said simply.

"I have to." She sighed. She didn't look into his eyes, it would be too hard. She couldn't see the hurt in his face. "I can't..." Tears blocked her voice.

John's hands rose to her cheek, and she closed her eyes, a tear sliding down her scar. He wiped it away, and traced a finger over the marred skin. She shook her head, trying to hold back more tears. He lifted another hand, and lifted her face to meet his. "Don't" He whispered. She stared up at him, and closed her eyes.

John kissed her. She wound her arms around him, not wanting to let him go. The stood like that for what seemed like hours, never wanting to let go. "Please," she whispered into his shoulder. "Don't make this harder." She looked at him. "I'm sorry." She pulled her self away from him. His hands tried to keep her close, tried to hold onto her, but she tugged away. "Don't" She whispered, and turned away. She walked from him, tears running freely down her cheeks. He stood behind her, not able to follow her. She gripped her arms tightly, stopping herself from running back to him. She chocked back more tears, and sobbed quietly. She sighed deeply, dragging in the tears, and walked out of the heavy door of the school. John still stood there, watching her go. Watching the only thing that he didn't have to hide from leave him.


	9. Glass Logan

**Contains treats for x men watchers!**

Chapter 9

Snow fell, whispering through the crisp night air. The moon shone pathways of silver light, gleaming into the distance. The blackened road was dusted with perfect white flakes, the trees sighing beside it. More glittering flecks fell onto the boughs and leaves. Not a single thing stirred. Not a car passed. It was the perfect landscape, filled with such beautiful serenity that it seemed unreal.

Glacier didn't feel anything. She was neither angry nor sad. Awake or asleep. Being or knowing. She simply was, and walked through the snow. The biting wind swirled around her, blowing snow into her hair, her clothes. She didn't flinch or smile. She just walked. She lifted her head slightly, and looked at the tall pine trees, all black and white. The whole world was black and white, and she was a monochrome figure in a monochrome place. Snow fell onto her eyelashes, and she looked down again. The wind whispered past her again, and she thought she could hear a voice carried with it. She shook her head. Yet still it carried on, getting louder and louder. She put her hands over her ears, her walking now irregular and stumbled. It persisted, violating her soul, her freedom. She slammed herself down into the now knee deep snow. She pounded her fists into the pure white depths. She cried, sobbed, screamed, yelled, tore at herself, the snow, her hair. She beat the ground until her knuckles were bloody and raw, and the bright red blood streaked across the blank, emotionless canvas. She fell into the snow, and lay there, letting her exterior match her interior. She hated him, for making her do this. She hated everyone. Especially _him_. He had shown her deep feelings that she just wasn't prepared for. She'd diverted blows, parried punches, killed her assailants. But nothing could have prepared her for this. She lay there, hating everything around her. Better off by herself. Better off not feeling.

Tyre tracks crunched in the distant darkness. Two pinpricks of light gave her a shadow. She rolled onto her side, and stared at them, like a deer caught in the headlights. A truck. Her ticket out of here. She jumped up, and crashed into the undergrowth, coming out with a pile of sticks, boughs and a small log. She hurled them onto the road, and waited.

The truck ground to a halt. The driver, tired from a whole night's driving slammed his hands on the wheel. "Damn kids!" He growled, to no one in particular. He didn't care that there were actually no kids in this part of the world, but he probably wouldn't have cared.

He heaved himself out of the cab, not noticing a dark, slight figure slip into the empty bit at the back. He kicked the stuff off the road, and tweaked his baseball cap. He managed to get himself back into the cab, and turning up the heat, tuning into the radio, he accelerated back down the road. He went much faster than normal, because he had to get to Waltham City to pick up a shipment. With 215 miles still to travel, he would have no time to stop.

The bar was crowded, smoky and smelly. Glacier quietly in behind a group of truckers. Roars issued from the huge crowd around what looked like a chain link arena. She walked to an empty bar stool, and sat down. She toyed with the idea of getting something to eat, but after seeing the state of the barkeep, she put the idea off. She swivelled around to look at the arena, just in time to see a huge, hulking body hit the metal with a nasty crunch.

The guy next to her roared along with everyone else, and turned around to order another beer. He caught sight of her, and he grinned at her. She smiled grudgingly back. He held out his hand, "Bill Hardy!" He proclaimed in a deep, loud voice.

She took his hand with a winning smile. "Liberty Vale." She told him brightly. "My friends call me Libby," she said, winking at him.

He threw back his large head and laughed. "How old are you girl?" He asked, still chuckling.

"Twenty." She could pass for that!

Bill raised a bushy eyebrow.

"I'm small for my age, got born a little soon." "Libby" continued.

"Shame I don't have that problem, hon'!" Bill patted his voluminous stomach in its red-check shirt.

Glacier laughed along with him. "What's going on up there?" She nodded towards the arena.

"Huh?" Bill swallowed the swig of beer he had just taken. "Oh, that's the truckers pride and joy. Anyone can volunteer to go up there, and then this…" The latest roar cut his words off, but Glacier got his meaning, "kicks their asses, and everyone looses their money."

"So…it's like boxing?"

"Without the rules, yeah." Bill shook his head at her. "Not the kind of thing a woman like you should be watching."

"I've seen worse," she replied.

Bill looked her up and down, taking in the scar on her face, and her black clothes. "I bet you have."

"Who's this guy who kicks all their asses then?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, he's been here ages. No one can beat him. He calls himself the Wolverine." Bill snorted. "Bit of a sissy name if you ask me."

"Wolverine," breathed Glacier, a slight smile curving around her cracked lips. "And you say no one can beat him?"

Bill nodded. "Not that people haven't tried! I'd try myself, but, well…" He trailed off.

"So, do people bet on these fights?" Glacier asked casually.

"You got it." Bill drank again.

"Do you?"

"Nah, no one's gonna beat him."

"If you thought someone could though, would you?"

"Hell yeah!" Bill sighed. "I got a wife and three kids at home, all calling out the dreaded word."

"What's that then?"

"College!" Bill roared with laughter.

"I bet I got a person who could beat him." Glacier said.

"Really, who's that then?"

Glacier waited until Bill took another generous swig off beer, and then she said "me."

As predicted, the beer shot out of Bill's mouth in an impressive fountain. As he spluttered, he managed to choke "you?"

"Yep!" Glacier said brightly. "Me!"

Bill tried to laugh, but it ended up as a cough. "Are you crazy?"

Glacier shrugged. "Some people used to think so."

Bill's eyes widened. "And now?"

Glacier raised an eyebrow at him. "Let's just say, they're in no position to spread that around."

"Who are you?" Bill whispered. "An assassin!" His voice almost broke.

"Ssssh." Glacier forced the bubble of laughter down. Poor guy. "Not here." She mouthed at him. "So, I figure, with me doing what I do, I have the best chance, don't you?"

Bill nodded dumbly. "You are a strange one, girl." He laughed again, but quieter. "I'll enter you, but just because I think that if I don't, mistakes will be made."

Glacier nodded at him. "Good man. And anyway, if I win, which I will, you'll be able to tell the missus all three of your kids can go."

Bill smiled. As he got up, Glacier thought she saw a tinge of yellow in his eyes, but she dismissed it as a trick of the light. A man had sat down beside her, cloaked in deep red attire, but Glacier didn't notice. She just watched as Bill made his way through the crowd, with an agile that surprised Glacier. This was gonna be fun.


	10. Glacier vs Wolverine

**Ok, I know I should have written this a long time ago, so sorry! Look carefully for a treat at the end for watchers of the movies. You may be pleasently pleased...**

Chapter 10

Glacier approached the area calmly, her pulse steady and her hands still at her sides. All eyes followed her, not a sound was uttered, apart from the odd distressed murmur. She turned to the main guy at the table. "Hi!" She said brightly, seeing his eyes move over her slim figure slowly.

"Umm, Liberty Vale?" He choked hoarsely.

"Glacier," she corrected, slipping back into her normal self. Her face relaxed, and her eyes became narrow slits. Her whole body seemed to ripple as a wave of tension shot through her.

He flinched. "You won't be able to take him." He looked down at a pile of papers, ready to write her off. He jumped as her hand flashed out to grab his wrist, so fast it was like lighting.

"Trust me, I can take him." Glacier stared into his deep brown eyes. He looked down at her hand, seeing the glass slid around under her translucent skin. Just as the tip of it broke through the skin, he shuddered, and pulled his hand away.

"Fine!" He growled. "I hope you're up to this, because if you win, I can guarantee, I'll make sure you never set foot here again, mutant."

She laughed quietly, but it didn't touch her sliver eyes. "Like you would be able to stop me." He shivered again.

"You're up."

Glacier hardly heard him announce her name, claiming she was their deadly angel, the one to stop the rampage of the Wolverine. She stepped lightly up the steps, until she was in the circle of blood and rust stained chains.

The Wolverine had his back to her, a wisp of smoke curling around his brown hair. She slipped off her jacket, throwing it to one side. The floresant lights threw her scars into deadly and dismal shadows. The bell tolled for her. The fight started.

Wolverine didn't move, waiting for her to come to him. He didn't have any idea that the person he was supposed to be crunching into the floor was a girl, no more sixteen.

Glacier stood in the centre, her arms still, her body tensed and ready to move. This was what she needed, ruining the face of some perfect stranger, simply because she could. Wolverine turned slowly, throwing the cigar away. His eyes narrowed as he saw her, and a mocking smile crept around his mouth. She smiled too, and his disappeared as he took in her battle scars.

"Is this a joke?" he growled at her.

Glacier's smile vanished. "Why, you wanna forfeit?" she asked him. He snorted. "Look kid..." he never got to finish that sentence. Glacier began circling him, and they began to move in deathly circles around the ring. It was just them. His fists clenched, and Glacier laughed at him. "Like that's gonna help you." She stopped, facing him, shoulders tense. She launched herself through the air, practically flying. He ducked, and she landed cat like behind him. She threw her arm around his neck before he could move, and tightened her grip.

Wolverine choked. Holy crap, this girl was strong! And crazy. Not a good mix. This couldn't be happening. No one could beat him. He ran backwards, and ground her into the link fence. She yelled out as her head was crushed into the metal.

He turned and faced her. She slipped own the fence, clutching her head. "What did you do that for?" she gasped. "Because you were strangling me!"

She got up, still staring at him. "You should be dead then."

He held his hands out. "Yeah, I get that a lot." He curled his hand. "Come on."

She sighed, the hurled herself at his waist, tackling him into the fence the other side. He grunted, and she spun out of his clawing hands. She swung to a stop a few metres away, close to the ground. "Same back atcha" she said.

He growled again, and swung a punch at her, which she ducked and swung round her leg to topple him to the floor. He fell with a heavy thud ...and a nasty crunch. But not from him. Glacier gasped in pain. A jagged bit of glass bone was protruding from her lower calf. Blood trickled from the wound, falling with a soft _plink plink _on the arena floor.

She closed her eyes in pain. Holding onto the glass, she straightened her leg, and shoved it back into place. She clenched her fists, pain exploding in a purple, red and yellow blossom in her mind. She hauled herself up, staggering over to the chain link fence and holding it like a life raft. A roar broke through her wallowing. She looked up, and saw Wolverine charging head on towards her. She tried to move, but her leg flared up a magnificent spike of red. He rammed into her, twisting behind her, so that his arm was around her neck. She choked and snarled at him.

"Listen up kid," he whispered in her ear. "This is my bar. You got that?" Glacier gagged and spluttered. "So...you'd be the boss right? Big fish?" "Yep. And you are gonna pay, no one makes me look stupid!"

"I think you're forgetting something bub." Glacier tugged at the iron arms holding her throat. "Oh yeah!" He growled in her ear.

"There always-comes a bigger one." Glacier heaved his arm off her in a lightening burst of strength, and somersaulted him over her head. He landed on his back with a grisly thump. The breath was completely knocked out of him, and he stared at the girl who had just beaten almost to a pulp. She leapt over him, and stood with her legs each side of his stomach. A smile twitched the corners of her lips, and her eyes deepened and the pupils seemed to grow into fathomless depths.

Glacier lowered her hand, until it was over his throat, and let a glass arrow slither under her hand, seeing his eyes grow and register what she was.

"I win, bub." She whispered, and swung her leg over his chest. She walked from him, cool, and limping only slightly. She heard him straighten up and watch her.

Glacier sat at the bar, tracing a circle on the wooden top again. Bill was still, surprisingly quiet for him. The man in red was still beside her, his face hidden in shadow. Glacier had the acute feeling of being circled by wolves. Circling the drain. She raised her silver eyes to the shadow in the corner. He stared back at her.

Bill cleared his throat. "You got some talent kid."

"Yes." Glacier didn't elaborate. She heard the bar quieten around her, but she didn't look around.

"Hey, kid."

"You know, I do have a name!" She spun around, and saw Wolverine's eyes boring into hers. "Oh..." She trailed off.

"Yeah, Glacier, I know." He snorted, adjusting his black and yellow striped jacket. "You did good up there. So I figure, what's it you're hiding."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What about you?" She leant her elbows on the bar behind her. "You have skills I've never seen before. In a human." She tilted her head to one side.

He smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'm real special. Look, kid, I don't wanna see you're blood splattering the drinks behind you. So here's some advice," he leant closer to her ear, and his breath blew Glacier's hair. "Get outta here."

She raised her own hand, and brought his head closer, moving his head so that her mouth was by his ear. "I don't need your advice. I can take care of myself."

Wolverine pulled his head back, and smiled at her. "Fine. Good luck that." He held out a grubby hand.

Glacier stared at it, then took it. "Thanks." She looked into his eyes, then away again. She didn't need to be close to anyone else. Better off this way, right?

Wolverine winked wickedly at her, and sauntered away, back to the ring. She watched him go, a slight smile on her lips. She had a strange feeling about that guy.

The man in red slunk up to her. "That was very brave, my dear," he said to her. He spoke like each word was velvet, and that when he spoke them it was more spectacular than when anyone else did.

Glacier slowly turned her head to look at him through her hair, a sideways smirk on her face. "Yeah, I kicked his ass, didn't I?"

The man looked half-confused, but hide it behind a smile. He was old, but nor ancient, and confidence rolled off him in waves. "I think you and I should have a little chat. You see," he slipped onto the seat next to her. "I've been watching you."

"I know dude, you're not that subtle." Glacier snorted, and pulled a beer mat to pieces.

"I'm not the only one that has."

That made her look up. "Oh?" She tried to hide the panic from her voice. Had they found her? Were they going to slice on her again? Would they approach her calmly, quietly, from the shadows where she couldn't fight them? She looked behind her.

"Oh no," the man said calmly. He nodded to the side of her.

She turned, and saw Bill raising a beer glass to her. "No way..." she breathed.

The man chuckled. "We're like you. Better than these...dumb creatures. We are the next stage, my dear. But..." he sighed, and looked around at the drunken thugs around him. "They will never comprehend that. We need to show them." He looked her directly in the eyes. She was captivated, like a rabbit staring down the barrel of a gun. She knew he was dangerous, but he was making so much sense.

"So, the question is..." He lifted a hand slightly, and a sleek metal knife slid into his palm. "Will you join us?"

"Why me?"

"You have many unique...talents my dear. Ones I could use."

"You mean take advantage of."

"He was silent.

"I'll join you, but I call the shots on my own powers. If I say stop, I stop. Get it?" She stared at him, eyes wide and dangerous.

He nodded, smiling. "Of course. Follow me." He got up fluidly, and Glacier followed, like a shadow. He walked softly to the dark door, with Glacier prowling behind. Bill watched them, then slid into the men's room. A blonde woman swept out of the door a second later, winking at the men looking at her, mouths open. She glided to the door, passing a girl, dressed in a long green coat with a sparkly purple scarf and brown gloves who crept in timidly.

Glacier looked over her shoulder at the bar, black against the snow that fell lightly over Waltham City. Her footsteps crunched over the ground, and he looked back to the man, who led her to a sleek black car, no registration and tinted windows. She knew there was no turning back as she dragged her soul across the crisp white ground.


	11. Oh right, I am

Chapter 11

_Ok, a quick recap. I fell in love with a guy, and broke his heart. That's normal. I beat up a guy who should have crushed me. Literally. Getting weirder. I'm an escaped mutant from a mental facility where they cut me open and sewed me together again, badly. Oh yeah, I'm made of glass._

_...How am I not yet crazy!? Oh, right. I am._

Glacier sat on the side off the bed, her head in her hands. She lifted her throbbing head, and looked around herself. She was underground, the walls harshly cut stone. Veins of metal crisscrossed them, shining dimly onto her arms. She got up, and walked to the long mirror on one wall, her metal framed bed behind her. A girl looked back at her. Her hair was tangled. Glacier focused on that normal worry, to stop her whole world crashing down around her. She let a glass spike slither out of her arm, delicately pointed. She lifted it, and roughly hacked off a chunk of hair. She carried on chopping, the hair gathering around her like dust. Her hair got shorter until it was only a few inches long. She rubbed her head, small tufts flying from it. It looked as though it had been pulled apart. Just like her. She had left everything. Her heart yearned for the warm touch of another's hands, stroking her arms. Her own cold hands slid up her forearm, and she looked down at it, expecting to see...She looked back up at the mirror, her eyes blurred with tears. If she closed her eyes, then she could almost...feel him standing there. Next to her. She needed him. Her fingers curled around her arm, and her shoulders trembled. Tears dropped freely onto the floor, making small, sad noises. Glacier looked up again, seeing herself, a pathetic creature, reaching for something she could never have. She pitied herself, and disgusted herself at the same time. She let go of her arm, and stood up straight, staring herself down in the glass. She didn't need anyone. _But, _a tiny voice reminded her scornfully, _you so obviously do._

The door opened smoothly. She turned, and saw a graceful woman slink in, covered in blue, almost scaly skin.

"What do you want?" Glacier asked imperiously.

Mystique's eyes narrowed, as she smiled wickedly at her. "It's time for your training."

Mystique prowled into a large circular room, devoid of all constructs, apart from a rack of silver rods. Mystique picked one up, and swung it round her, holding it against her back as she waved her hand for Glacier to get one as well.

Glacier lifted her arm, shot out a glass spear and caught it. "I prefer this," she said quietly.

Mystique smiled, pointed the end of the shaft at her, and raised her hand. Her fingers curled, persuading her forwards.

Glacier shook her head in amusement, then whipped into the air, landed, both feet on Mystiques shoulders, jumped off, swept onto the floor, one leg tucked under in a low crouch, her spear swung behind her.

Mystique whirled around, and raised one eyebrow. She jack-vaulted over Glacier using her rod, and landed behind her, swinging her rod around so that it caught her across the back. It never met flesh, Glacier flattened herself at the last minute, and the rod swished against the empty air. Glacier twirled her leg around, and Mystique jumped into the air, her body quivering. Glacier jumped up, her own body electrified with adrenalin.

Mystique circled her slowly, staring her down. Glacier watched her, flicking her hair out of her eyes. Or she would have, if she still had hair.

Then they were really trying to fight. It was like a dance, if the dancers had the potential to kill one another with their bare hands. Glacier closed her eyes and let her instincts guide her.

"Enough!" Magneto said from the doorway, a small green man crouching behind him. He clapped his hands together slowly, three times. "Very well done, my dears." He started walking toward them, flipping his cloak off his shoulders. The other man caught it, and rolled it up, holding it close to his body.

Glacier's chest heaved, and she wiped the sweat from her brow. She looked down, and saw a trail of blood across her hand. She felt her forehead, and her fingers felt the sticky, warm oozings of a gash that ran from one side to the other. She pressed the skin together, and the cells quickly knitted tightly. Mystique wasn't so lucky, her arms patterned with criss-crossed cuts. They wouldn't scar. Glacier smiled at her, and she grinned back.

Magneto wound an arm around Mystique's waist. "She really is impressive, isn't she my dear?"

Mystique stuck out her chin, and sniffed in contempt, but her eyes sparked with the fight. "She could be of some use," she said in her strange, almost echoing voice.

Magneto smiled, and turned on his heel, his hands now behind him. "We shall put you to great use, Glacier, mark my words." He walked out of the room, the man holding his cloak smiling wickedly at Glacier, looking her up and down.

Glacier spun the rod in her hand, and shoved it back up her arm. Mystique threw a towel at her, and Glacier was caught off guard. It hit her in the face.

Mystique sniggered. "You can dodge nearly all of my attacks, and yet if I have a towel, I have the upper hand."

"Ha ha," Glacier stuck her tongue out. "Shut up. You're just sour 'cos I beat you."

Mystique frowned. "You didn't beat me."

"Right, right. You let me win, because I'm so weak, and helpless and new. You just wanted to show me the ropes, and I almost strangled you with them." Glacier threw the towel back at her. It didn't hit her.


	12. Fragment

**Sorry this took me so long guys! I'll try to update more often from now on, I promise!**

Chapter 12

Glacier lay on her bed, staring at the mottled grey ceiling. Her heart felt cold, her head throbbed. She missed...no one. No, she didn't need to miss anyone! She sat up, and both hands pulled her hair. She growled under her breath. She needed out! This Magneto was ok, but he was a bit...collective. He seemed to always want her to do better than she...Never mind.

She swung her legs over and rubbed her hair. She sprang up and her hand grasped the door handle, twisting it slowly, and walked out into the hall. She walked a few paces, then turned and followed...well, not much.

Mystique's eyes narrowed as she watched cameras, installed all over the base. Glacier flashed into each one, then came up on another, then a different one. Her body was reflected in Mystique's large yellow eyes, as the pupils followed her slim figure zipping around the facility. She stood, and her chair zoomed off behind her. She marched out of the screen room, and made a bee line for Glacier's next position.

"Where are you going?"

Glacier froze, her shoulders rose and tensed. Her fists clenched, and glass slithered beneath. "Leaving." She said without turning round.

Mystique prowled closer, her eyes boring into her back. "Why?"

The mood rose and the tension threatened to crush them both. "Because if I don't, then someone will get hurt." Glacier turned slowly on her heel, and faced the other woman. She cocked an eyebrow. "Clear enough for you?"

Mystique tilted her head slightly, and her hands crossed over her chest. "Oh really."

"Yep!" Glacier rolled her eyes as she turned around again.

"You going, sweetheart?" A man flew in front of her, low and menacing. He held himself like an animal, yet it wasn't Sabretooth. It was Sabretooth's younger, darker, bigger twin.

Glacier tensed again. Her hackles rose and she assessed the two people trying to stop her leave. Again. This time, it was too much. Her boiling ager filled her to the brim, and her body trembled. How dare they? Who were they to stop her! Never again would someone underestimate her. "Yes, get out of my way." Her teeth were bared, and she could barely contain her anger.

"I don't think I will, see, we don't like deserters. Especially not some stupid, arrogant little girl." Grimm said, his yellow teeth leering out of his black lipped mouth.

Glacier's mind went numb. She smiled, and kicked him round the head. He reeled backwards, Mystique climbing up the wall behind them. He took a swipe at her feet, and Mystique fastened herself around Glacier's neck. She twisted and struggles against the strong limbs that were wrapped around her, squeezing all her breath out.

Grimm straightened, and brushed himself down. He watched as Glacier slammed against that wall, in a futile effort to release herself. He grimaced in anger and hurt pride, and lifted a heavy fist in front of Glacier's face. He smiled, and punched her.

Blood trickled from Glacier's nose, and she cried out in pain. It only seemed to fuel Grimm's anger, and he lifted his fist again. She ducked, and he punched Mystique in her stomach. She gasped, and slithered off Glacier's neck. Glacier fell to the floor, and began to crawl away. Grimm grasped the back of her jacket, and picked her up, only to throw her down again.

As Glacier's head smacked against the hard rock floor, she saw a figure swim into view behind Grimm's shoulder. She was dimly aware of Grimm's huge foot kicking her again and again, but she only saw...him. His hair, his eyes, his careless smile. She blinked the congealing blood out of her eyes, and the vision became clearer. John was standing there, watching her angrily. "_What are you doing?" He cried._

"_Getting my ass kicked, what does it look like?"_

"_Fight back!"_

"_No. What's the point?"_

_He leant over her, and stroked her bruised forehead. "Because otherwise you'll die."_

"_So?"_

"_This isn't how you wanted to go. You wanted to die fighting." He ginned. "So fight."_

Glacier frowned. Her eyes had closed, and Grimm had stopped kicking her. He was standing over her, waiting to knock her out for good. Glacier's mouth hardened, as her strength came flooding into her. Her eyes began to regain their silver shine, and the glass inside her rushed with anticipation of blood.

She jack-vaulted up, and glass shot into her waiting hand. She hit Grimm around his neck, and his body slumped to one side, his hand steadying himself. His eyes narrowed as he saw the battered, bloody figure standing over him.

Glacier mind was flooding with anger, betrayal and blood. So much blood. Her body was crying out for revenge. She flipped the glass spear in her fingers and watched Grimm's face. She had paralysed part of temporarily. Her mind stopped, calculating hurt. Time seemed to slow as she looked at him. Blood pounded around her body, and in his eyes she saw reflected everyone who had ever hurt her, judged her, abandoned her. Her fingers tightened around the spear, and she lifted it above her head. Screaming filled her ears, but not from the pathetic figure on the ground. She closed her eyes briefly, before her arm brought the spear down. The clang of the strike echoed into her brain, around her bones. Black blood seeped from the wound, around her feet.

Mystique looked at the girl, standing over the muscled body of her predator. Blood covered both of them, and they were motionless. The only difference between them was that a heart still beat, blood still rushed, eyes still saw destruction and pain. Too much. Mystique got up, and stood quietly.

Glacier dropped the glass. Her hands began to shake. She lifted one, and looked at the blood, rapidly staining her ghostly pale skin red. She looked up at Mystique, who caught a glint of desperation in the other's eyes. More than anything, she could tell, this girl had been damaged beyond belief, but she still was only a child.

Magneto came silently up behind Mystique. His eyes widened as he saw Grimm's corpse, and Glacier. "What have you done?" He whispered.

"I'm sorry," Glacier gasped, her eyes wide with fear.

Magneto shook his head. "I am too my dear. You can't stay here." His eyes were still wide, but with fake sorrow. "You don't belong with us anymore."

Glacier dropped her head, and a single tear fell from her eye. She turned, and walked away.

Mystique watched her go, and Magneto placed an arm round her slender shoulders. "She was far too dangerous. A shame. She was such a good fighter." He sighed at the loss of his best weapon.

Mystique looked at him tenuously. He was right, she was a good weapon. But she was a person too, just a child. A child that needed someone to guide her. Too late. She let Magneto guide her away from the sad body, away from blood and conflict.


	13. Tunnels

**Sorry this took me so long, I think this is one of my best chapters, so please enjoy! And merry Christmas!**

Chapter 13

Glacier sighed. And then, sighed again. Well, why the hell not? She was, after all, alone. She could do whatever the hell she wanted. She rolled her eyes at herself, and poked the small fire she had made. She had walked for a long time, and her legs were aching. It felt like splinters were sticking into her skin. She sighed again, and wrapped her arms around herself. Since Magneto had kicked her out she had found she was actually quite close to her worst nightmare. The facility was only a few hundred miles away. Easy. Hitched a ride for 50, then walked, jumped on a train, had an interesting chat with a hobo named Brisch. Nice guy. Thought he had been abducted by aliens, but never once thought she was weird. Which was kinda sad if you think about it. She had jumped and rolled down a very bumpy hill, and ground to a halt at the edges of the forest. Back again. It hadn't changed, but then again, neither had she. She breathed in, and was about to sigh again, when...

"_Why are you sighing?" A sweet, high voice interrupted her insensate sighing._

Glacier looked up. A short, slight girl picked her way delicately through the undergrowth, the branches catching on her dark blue jeans and simple white blouse. She swiped them away. "Huh?" Glacier said. Something about the girl seemed familiar...

"_Why are you sighing? It seems like a lonesome thing to do. Just makes you sadder really." _The girl plonked herself down on the ground next to her, the fire casting shadows on her pale face.

"Um, what are doing?" Glacier tensed, and drew away slightly. "Who are you?"

The girl brushed some splinters off her jeans. Then, she smiled at Glacier. Really and truly smiled at her, as if just seeing Glacier had made her day brighter. _"I'm you silly! What's for dinner? I'm hungry!"_

Glacier's mouth dropped open. "This isn't real," she muttered, and blinked, still dazed. "You can't be...me! I'm me!"

_Well, duh!" _Evelyn winked at her. _"I'm you if you hadn't become such a..._"

Glacier raised her eyebrows. "Such a what? Go on, say it!"

Evelyn bit her lip. _"Someone who is in serious need of Prozac," _she said shortly. _"You gotta learn to lighten up most seriously dude!"_

Glacier rolled her eyes. "Do you talk like that all the time?" She said disbelievingly.

Evelyn blinked. _"Why are you being so cold?" _She pouted. _"I didn't do anything to you!"_

"I didn't invite you to come!"

"_Actually, you did," _Evelyn said slyly. _"Not real, remember!"_

"I just won an argument with myself." Glacier rubbed her head. "I'm nuts!"

"_Hell yeah!" _Evelyn slapped her thigh. _"Sorry," _She said, seeing the look on Glacier's face. _"Hey, that reminds me, you might wanna cheer up before they arrive." _

"There are others coming? Tell me, and please be trueful. Could the Easter Bunny make it?"

"_Sorry, he had a prior engagement."_

"Damn! Every single time he cancels on me!"

"_What a tool!" _

They sat in comfortable silence. _"See, isn't this nice?" _Evelyn asked her. _"Just being around human beings that you can talk to?"_

"Yeah, it's great that I can chat so well with my alter-ego."

Evelyn smiled. _"Well, better get used to having different company. He's almost here."_

Glacier's heart skipped a beat. "He?" She could barely get the words out. "Where are you going?"

"_I'll be here. Just, don't talk to me out loud okay?"_

"Glacier tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Yeah, I may not remember. It's not like I'm used to it." She played with a bit of mud on the ground. She tried not to look up. She would miss...herself. She like this version of her. She was nice. She did look up, however, just to see if the other girl was gone. Evelyn was looking kindly at her. She shuffled closer, and reached out her hand. Glacier lifted her own, and her fingertips strained to the others. Their identical hands were so close, they could just...Glacier heart was pounding so hard it hurt. She reached a little bit further, and a tear slid out of her eye, cold and wet. She blinked, and it toppled to the ground. Evelyn had vanished, leaving nothing to say she was ever there. Because she wasn't.

Glacier dropped her hand. She stared at the space were Evelyn had been. It was so quiet, with only the rustling of the trees now to distract her from the crushing loneliness. That and a slithering noise. A slithering and a slight cracking. Getting very close. Very very close. Glacier sprang up and drew close to the fire. A large lump travelled towards her, stopping, starting and coming to a halt right in front of her feet. Glacier stared at it. It rose up, and flumped back down. A scrabbling noise issued from within, and the dirt jumped and jilted. It was getting closer to the surface. Glacier's breathing grew fast. A fingertip emerged. She couldn't move! Another, clawed and dirty burst out of the mound. A round top, covered with messy, mud-clogged hair just came into view, and stopped. It sat there for a few seconds, and Glacier stared at it. She knelt down, and reached out a finger. She poked it, very gently.

"Ouch!" A muffled voice said.

She did it again.

"Stop it!"

And again.

"Ok, that's it! I'm coming up!"

"Fine!"

The voice fell silent. "I shouldn't have said that. I've lost the element of surprise."

Glacier raised her eyebrows. "Yes, you did," she said condescendingly.

"So...what do I do now?"

"Well, you can't stay down there forever."

"You make a shrewd point, patronising female voice." There was the sound of sighing. "Ok, well, um, here I come!"

Glacier stood back. The dirt shifted again, and the top burrowed from view. A furious scrabbling was heard, and dirt tipped haphazardly from the mound. It grew and a shape shot from the hole. It tumbled and rolled up to Glacier's feet. It stopped, and a little face looked up at her.

"Hello, patronising female voice."

"Hello random scrabbly thingy."

He chuckled, and uncurled from the ball he was in. He stretched out like a cat, and sprang up. He came no higher than Glacier's shoulder, and she wasn't tall. She stepped back at the sight of his face. A long nose, whiskers, small brown eyes that were delicately ringed with white fur. Small stubby ears peeped out from underneath his wispy brown hair. His nose whiffled at her unfamiliar scent. "What?" A little pink tongue flashed when he spoke. He looked down, checking his clothes. "Have I got something on my face?"

"I...you...what..."

"Well, to answer your incredibly deep and well phrased question, I'm Mole. Nice to meet you! What's your name gorgeous?"

Glacier couldn't stop staring, she opened her mouth, but no noise came out.

_Dude! Stop staring, seriously! Say your name!_

"I'm Glacier." Glacier was stunned. Evelyn was speaking to her from inside her head. Weird, but she kind of liked it.

"What are doing out here, Miss Glacier? Seems awful cold for such a lovely girl to be out here alone!" He shivered, and winked at her, a playful grin on his funny fuzzy face.

"I, uh, was kicked out." Glacier couldn't help but smile at the ordinary words.

"Awww! Me too!"

"Really!"

"Yeah, like, ten years ago. Don't worry. It's awesome being a nomad!

"Really?"

"Nope. It sucks." He sighed, and then smiled at her. "You want company?"

"Um, ok..." Glacier sat down beside him as he plopped down on the dirt.

"Hey, I'm hungry! Got any food?" Mole rubbed his stomach.

"Nope. Not unless you eat, well, dirt."

"Ha ha." He patted the pockets in his tatty shirt, muddied so much you couldn't even tell what colour it used to be. Glacier suspected pink. "Got it!" He pulled out an extremely squished cereal bar.

Glacier raised her eyebrows. "That's it?" she said sarcastically.

_Hey, be polite! It's all he's got, and he's sharing it with you. Play nice, don't make me come out there._

He unwrapped it, and broke off a piece for her. She took it, and popped it in her mouth. " 'fanks," she muttered.

"You're welcome."

They sat a while in comfortable silence. Glacier drew up her knees, and chewed the bar. She wrapped her arms around her legs, and looked at him. He looked back at her. She averted her gaze to the trees, and sat very still.

"Why do you do that?"

She jumped, and whipped her head around to look at him. "What?"

"It's just," he laughed softly and looked away for an instant. "Whenever you seem to want to look at me, you look away. It's almost as if..." he trailed off.

"What?"

"It's like you've never seen anyone like me before." He smiled at her.

She looked at her fingers. "I haven't," she replied softly.

"I'm really starting to wonder what happened to you. I mean, lost in the woods? Covered in scars? Serious attitude problem? What is up with you?" His eyes sparkled at her, as he peered into her soul.

She smiled. "You really don't want to know that."

"Oh, I really do."

"Must you know?"

"I must, I must!"

She shivered. "Fine!" She smiled again, in spite of herself. "I'll tell you, but don't look at differently afterwards. I hate that."

As she told her story, Mole's eyes grew wider and wider, brighter and brighter. His mouth dropped open, and his body froze. It was like he was watching a really good film, every time she got to a more absurd turn he gasped.

"And then I met this really really annoying guy and here I am!" She finished with a flourish.

"And you came back here to bring this place down?"

She smiled wickedly at him. "Damn straight!"

"Whoa...."

There was a silence. "I think I can help you." Mole straightened his shoulders.

"What?" Glacier half-laughed. "How?"

"I know this other girl. She's pretty tough. We meet up from time to time, collect others for our little community."

Glacier froze. "Community?" she whispered. "I used to live in community."

"Yeah, anyway, she's around here....somewhere...." He sprang up and scuffled around the fire.

Glacier was still frozen. "Community..." she mouthed slowly. Was it possible that the idea of a community of just mutants had survived? Battered, bruised, scarred like she was, but still...alive?

_We used to live there._ Evelyn's voice made her jump._ In a family. When they died, you did too. I did. You let me go. Why?_

_I couldn't..._Glacier thought back. _You were so vulnerable...You wouldn't have survived in there. I protected you._

_I created you!_ Evelyn's anger made her recoil. _I am you Glacier! You were my temporary escape, supposed to be my sanctuary. You became out of control. I found it harder to let you go each time. Every time they...You became more...necessary. I died, and you were born. Permanently. _

"Stop it!" Glacier yelled. She put her hands over her ears, and rocked back and forth. "Stop it! I am you!" She felt Mole's rams around her, holding her steady, tightly.

"What is it? What happened?" He sounded worried.

"It's all my fault you died!" Glacier sobbed, curling her hands around Mole's shirt. "I didn't mean to kill you Evelyn! I'm sorry!" She turned her face into Mole's chest and tears ran from her silver eyes. A tear for her mother, father, Timmy, John, Evelyn, everyone she had hurt. She finally let it all go. All the remorse, anger, despair she had been holding onto since that part of her died. She felt whole, broken, happy, sad, angry and perfectly calm. This was how it was meant to be. She felt...._right._


	14. Whiplash stings

Chapter 14

Mole poked the fire sulkily. He glanced at the sleeping form of Glacier, curled in a ball, with her face nearest to him. She looked...younger somehow. In the flickering glow of the firelight she appeared peaceful. Yeah, appeared. He snorted, and then clamped a hand over his mouth. She shifted, and wound her hands around her elbows. He let out a sigh of relief. He went back to poking the fire, shaking his head. "Oh my, Sycamore Moleskin, what have you got yourself into this time?" He mumbled to himself. He missed his friend. He'd called her to them, but whether or not she would come...oh my, he thought again. But still, she'd been with him for a while, since...He shook his head.

"You ok?" Glacier's eyes shone at him when he looked down.

"Sure." He threw the stick away.

"No, you're not." She shuffled closer to him. "Come on, what is it?"

"Just thinkin'."

"About?"

"Past stuff. Not important."

"Oh come on! I just blubbed my eyes out in front of you! You owe me pal."

He smiled lopsidedly. "Parents kicked me out about a month ago. Well, my dad did."

There was a silence. "That's it?" Glacier said, her eyebrows raised. "I could do better than that telling you about my first year!"

"Well, my mum had just left, because of...what I am, and Dad, well, lets just say the "General" didn't really like that his son came out...a freak." He fiddled with a stone.

Glacier put her arm around his shoulders. "That's rough. But you know what?"

"What?"

She turned and smiled at him. "You're a dammed beautiful freak." She patted his arm.

He laughed. "Mmmm, heard that one before."

She shook her head, smiling. "You are..."

"Sexy? Amazing? Unbelievably awesome?" He grinned sweetly at her.

"Impossible," she finished, and stood up.

"I bet you say that to all of the guys!"

She laughed, and looked around. "Can you hear something?" The words had barely formed on her lips when a crack echoed across the silent air, breaking it like glass. Something lashed past her cheek, and stung her sharply. She lifted her hand, feeling the sticky liquid oozing from a small cut on her skin.

"Can you hear me?" A musical voice issued from the branches.

Mole leaped up. "Hey!" He waved his arm, until Glacier shot over to him and clamped a hand over his furry mouth.

"Shut up!" She hissed, and looked around again.

"Oh, chillax!" The voice laughed at her. "Mole, buddy, that you?"

Mole struggled out of Glacier's stunned hand. "Whiplash, over here hon'!" He jumped up and down, waving.

Glacier was shocked. "What the...hell!" She mouthed at him.

"Oh, that's just Whiplash!"

Glacier raised a hand to her stinging cheek. "You don't say," she grumbled.

Whiplash laughed again.

"Quit messing around and come out here!" Mole yelled at her. "You are just gonna love her!" He told Glacier, his eyes sparkling.

"Mmm, sure I will." Glacier sighed.

There was a cracking and snapping as the famed Whiplash made her way to them. "I'm a-coming Mole!"

"What is it with you guys? Seriously, ease up on the prozac." Glacier growled to herself.

Whiplash was...normal. Very normal. Normal auburn hair (straight, and shoulder length) normal height, normal clothes (green tee, and dark blue jeans) nothing extraordinary behind that wide smile, or those bright green eyes. She bounced out of the woods, and bounded over to Mole, encasing him in a steel-gripped hug.

Mole wiggled, after enduring it for a few seconds. "Whiplash!" He giggled, and tugged free.

Glacier kept back, by the fire, looking at the other girl. Whiplash caught her stare and stared at her with incredibly reflective pools of green. "Who's the new girl?"

Mole tugged Glacier closer. "Glacier, she's a bit...temperamental."

"Hey!" Glacier pulled her hand free. "Watch it, whiskers."

Whiplash looked her up and down. "What's your story?"

"Locked up. Escaped, never stopped running."

"Why were you locked up?" Whiplash said quickly, unemotionally.

"Experimentation. And," she drew her breath in sharply and made a face. "...they said I was crazy for, well, being me."

"Rough." Whiplash smiled at her. "The experiments...that's what those scars are from."

Glacier nodded.

"Ouch," she replied quietly. "What the hell were they testing?"

"Cures."

Whiplash's mouth dropped open. "For...mutants?"

"Yep."

"That's....sick!" Whiplash yelled. "And they're still doing it?" She turned to the fire, hands clenched into fists.

"As far as I know. But, that's why I'm back here." Glacier stepped forwards.

Whiplash whirled round. "You're what...gonna take 'em down all on your own?"

Glacier squared her shoulders. "You gotta problem with that?" She said toughly.

"No way, in fact," Whiplash's eyes sparkled and a grin spread over her face. She looked at Mole. He was gazing at the night sky, his mouth open. "Huh?" He looked back at her. "No!" He said quickly, seeing the look on her face. "No WAY, Whiplash, you always get me into...oh what's the point. I'm in." He gave in with a sigh.

Whiplash turned back to Glacier, her head on one side. "Pathetic," she summed up. "You in?"

"I don't even know what we're talking about!" Glacier yelled at them.

Whiplash paused for affect, and looked very puffed up with pride and bravery. She drew herself up to her full height. "We are going to take down the place where you were held." She said firmly.


	15. Toy boys

Chapter 15

Whiplash's bare toes sank into the newly-wet earth, leaving trails of black underneath her nails. She lifted a branch out of her way, watching the tendrils of mists clinging to it, the dew-drops falling lightly on her hand. She had left the others by the dying fire in the early morning light. She had to call the others to them, and it was best at morning, when the entire mortal world was sleeping. When it was quiet, mutants could hear her. She smiled and dug her toes deeper. Looking up, she spotted the morning star above her. The time was now.

She raised her arms high above her head, and called in a high voice, getting higher and higher until it became invisible, a bubble of noise swirling in her chest. She let it fill her, then thrust out her arms, and let the sound escape in a huge wave.

Glacier rose to a sound she'd never heard in her ears. It was shrill, rousing and full of warning. She shook Mole awake. "Hey, where's Whiplash?"

He grunted. "Calling the others." He rolled over and lay on his face.

She sighed. "What others?" She shook him again, but he swatted her hands away.

"They are another group of nomad mutants." Whiplash's voice made her jump.

"Nomads?" Glacier said. "Will they come?"

"They will if they got my message," Whiplash plonked herself, suddenly drained.

"Are you sure they heard?"

Whiplash's eyes rose to look in the other girls silver ones. "It woke you up didn't it?"

Glacier smiled. "What if they won't come?"

"They will." Whiplash's voice was certain.

"How do you know?"

Whiplash stared at the sky, shot with pink and silver. "Because they already are." She rose to her feet, her eyes squinted against the washed-out blue.

Glacier followed her gaze, and stood also. Two silhouettes were blacked out against the backdrop. They dipped and soared, so small they looked like insects. She shaded her eyes. "What are they?"

Whiplash laughed. "We call them the dragonfly brothers. They are a bit...full of themselves."

"Hm, well colour me surprised." Glacier said darkly.

Whiplash turned to smile at her. "Bierri is going to love you." She smiled and looked at the brothers again. "Kierri is a bit proud. They come from a very influential family."

"New York?"

"Worse. Beverly Hills."

Glacier laughed. "Ah."

Whiplash turned her head. "Mole!"

There was an answering grunt.

"Guess who's coming to breakfast?"

Grunt.

"The Dragonfly Brothers!"

Mole jumped up and ran into the woods.

"What is he doing now?" Glacier sighed.

"Hunting. If Kierri and Bierri are coming then he has to prove how man he is."

"Oh my god..." Glacier breathed. Boys are so alpha.

"Here they come." Whiplash breathed, and plumped up her already attractively wild hair.

Glacier heard a low hum, like the fast beating of wings. She looked up, and saw two figures coming in. A high wind picked up, blowing leaves in her face. She screwed up her eyes and stared doggedly at the sky. One brother landed delicately on the ground in front of her, followed by his twin. Their wings fell still, but still twitched slightly every so often.

They were the same. Glacier couldn't see any difference in their faces. One however had more of a blue tint to his clothes, figure-hugging metallic material, and to his skin and hair. The other was more purple. Manly. Their eyes were shaded by ray-ban sunglasses. They moved as if they were still in the air, treading lightly on the wet ground.

"Kierri. Bierri. How are you?" Whiplash's voice was light, airy.

"Updraft was a bitch. Why did you call us?" the blue twin replied, taking off his sunglasses.

"Bierri, we need your help."

Kierri, the purple one, cleared his throat. "Whiplash, has it been so long that you can't remember my name?" he said softly.

Whiplash looked him full in the eyes, easier since he had also removed his glasses. "No, Kierri. I just have to make sure Glacier knows your names."

Bierri was apprising Glacier's lithe body. She caught his gaze, and he winked. "Why is someone so gorgeous running with someone so...uncivilised?"

Glacier raised her eyebrows. "Because I tried not to, and she came anyway."

Beirri laughed. "Beautiful and sharp. You may have to revise who you hang with."

"I did. I broke someone because of it."

He fell quiet. He turned back to the other two, who were talking quietly. "Where is Sycamore then?"

Glacier watched the brothers for a while. Their white/purple or blue hair stuck out behind them, stylishly windswept. The cheekbones were high and defined with shadows of blue or purple. Leaves were attached to their clothes, their gossamer wings fluttering on their backs. The veins were delicately outlines of black against the translucent, shiny skin. They looked like dragonfly wings, long and thin, hence the name for the brothers.

Kierri caught her eye. "So, I hear it's because of you we were called," he told her gently. Everything about him was serene.

Glacier ran her hand through her short hair. "Sorry, I was going to go solo."

He smiled. "I'm glad you called." He said to Whiplash. "Bierri has got into some hot water back in the Hills."

"Again?" Whiplash said disbelievingly.

"Hey! That guy was going to loose that money eventually! I just helped him."

"He cheated in poker on our yacht again." Kierri ignored his brother.

Whiplash shook her head.

Bierri turned to Glacier. "Oh yeah, I have a boat. And a jet, but why use it?" He winked at her again.

She rolled her eyes.

Mole came up behind her. "Oh, Kierri! Bierri! How nice you could drop in. Unless you've improved your landing, which I doubt."

Glacier looked at him in surprise. She had never heard him talk like that. She looked down, and saw there was blood on his paws. "Did you get anything?" She asked him quietly.

"A few rabbits."

Bierri snorted. "That's it? Well, that will feed all of hmmm, three of us? That is for those of us who can count."

Mole's fists clenched. "And a deer."

Glacier's mouth dropped open. "You took down a deer?"

Mole's jaw was clenched. "It wasn't hard," he replied.

Bierri turned away with a sniff.

Kierri watched them sadly. "How are you Sycamore?" he'd always felt guilty after that incident with the hunters. Bierri used to be friends with Mole, and they'd all run together, with Whiplash. Bierri had got too cocky for himself, and had flown into an area where the humans were shooting down birds. Sycamore had run in and drawn their attention, and got a few bullets pumped into him for it. Bierri was caught by his brother, and was insistent that Mole has ruined his mojo, because he felt so guilty he couldn't fly for days. Whiplash had left with him, to try and get some help. They had never seen her again, until now.

Mole flinched at the sound of his name. "Fine, thanks Ki."

Kierri smiled. "What time will the others be coming?"

Whiplash shrugged. "Sometime today."

"Who?" Bierri demanded.

"Quiklife I think, she'll be useful. Metallika as well, they travel together now."

"Oh really? Good for them!" Kierri said lightly.

"Yeah, Blockhead too, he'll be useful too, especially if there's a fight. And then there's Jet."

"Oh crap. Jet's coming?" Bierri said, "I need to call her."

Kierri shook his head.

"And that brings our total to nine." Mole jumped in. "That's not very much Whiplash. Can't Alaska come?"

"I think she's going to try. She'll bring Arctic and Antarctica too."

"What about Emma Frost?"

"Nah, she's got her sister's memorial service soon."

Mole sighed. "Well, that's a possible twelve. That's not bad."

Glacier sighed too. "It's not enough."

The others looked at her. "Why not? You got out by yourself."

"Yeah, but this is getting in."

Whiplash smiled. "We'll manage. We're tough."

"You need to be tougher." Glacier said darkly.

"Why don't you train us when the others arrive?" Mole suggested.

Bierri snorted, but Kierri and Whiplash nodded. "Good idea Mole!" Kierri said. "Most of us don't know what to expect."

Glacier rubbed her arms. "I've never taught before. I'm not good at teamwork."

"Great, you'll fit right in!" Bierri cried. "I wouldn't mind you telling me off, gorgeous."

Glacier ignored him. "Ok."

"Okey dokey artichokey!" Whiplash clapped her hands. "Mole, would you mind skinning the catch? I'm famished."

"Someone will need to cook it. For those of us that eat cooked meat." Bierri looked down at Mole in disdain.

"Shut up Bierri. At least Mole is good for things. You just stand there making snide remarks and checking out my bum, which may work on the blonde beachheads, but not on those of us with substance. And plus, I could break you in half with one hand, so back off." Glacier snapped at him.

There was a pause, where Bierri was frozen with surprise. Then Whiplash burst into applause. "Oh Zing Glacier!" She cried happily. "Bierri, dude you've had that one coming!"

Kierri nudged his brother, a sweet but guilty smile on his face. "Come on bro, you were coming on too strong."

Bierri closed his mouth and turned away from Glacier. "I like the blonde beachheads." He decided. "Girls with substance talk back too much."


	16. Penultimate

**Wow, we've had quite a run. I think this is the penultimate, so I hope you guys have had as much fun reading as I had writing it! Thanks for your reviews and faving. You guys are awesome!**

Chapter 16

Mole looked away from greeting Jet, a mysterious black-haired girl with dark purple skin and bright blue eyes. Glacier was sitting and talking with Metallika. The two had instantly made a connection, which allowed Whiplash to break free to greet her many "friends".

"I don't see what you did wrong, Glace'." Metallika flicked back her long silver ponytail. "So you wanted to leave, why should he try and stop you?"

Glacier hugged her knees. "I dunno," she replied sulkily. "I just hate being told I can't leave."

Metallika threw back her head and laughed. It wasn't a wholly nice noise, especially since it sounded like metals being struck together. But it was comforting, and Glacier smiled too.

"You are so cute!" Metallika giggled, "The way you said "I dunno" in that sulky little pout..." she ran out of breath and collapsed into giggles.

Glacier looked at Jet and Quiklife, who were busy sharing past events. Quiklife had intimidated her at first. She was thin, almost skeletal, with greyish skin and white lips. The only colour on her face was the dark circles around her milky white eyes. She wasn't blind, just dead-looking. Her grey hair hung in limp dreadlocks around her sharp face. Her talent laid in bringing people back to life, but she was training to teach herself to take it away again. Metallika worked with her, but they never said what they did.

Whiplash joined the two girls by the crackling fire. "How's it going?" She sat down, tired.

"Fine, where's Mole?" Metallika grinned. "I'm hungry, and I want him to take me hunting."

Glacier smiled. Mole was a bit wary of Metallika, since she was very....loud. He usually succumbed to her every whim, and that was why she liked him so much.

Whiplash winked at her. "He's waiting until Alaska gets here before he goes hunting again."

Metallika sighed. "The way he dotes on that girl...it freaks me out."

"Only because you don't like people showing emotions," Whiplash retorted.

"Damn straight!" Metallika cried. "That's why I run with Quiklife. No emotions there," she waved at her partner in whatever. The other girl waved back too, but with not a smile or a sign of recognition in her eyes.

Mole popped up by Whiplash's elbow. "They're coming." He told her, and ran around, trying to find his jacket.

Glacier rubbed her arms. Goose-pimples had run their way up her body in the sudden cold. The sky grew darker, and a high wind picked up.

"I hate the way they arrive." Metallika drew her long velvet coat around her shoulders. "It's so...show-off."

Whiplash sighed, her breath making the air mist. "I told them not to do this, but you know Alaska. She can't resist."

The wind grew fiercer, carrying flecks of snow and ice in it. It swirled around the fire, snuffing out the flames. Jet yelled in anger and fumbled around for matches. The snow grew into a whirlwind, which split into three minor ones. Then it went, leaving three people standing where they used to be. A girl and two boys. She stood between them, her bright blue hair standing out like a bolt of lightening. One of the boys' hair was white, the other dark navy blue.

The girl threw her arms wide. "Whiplash," she declared, with a wide smile on her face. Tiny snowflakes were struck to her cheekbones, as if her skin had frozen.

Whiplash started towards her, but was overtaken in a flash by Mole, who flew into Alaska's arms. She laughed and spun him round with surprising strength.

Glacier sighed. "This cutesy-pie stuff is doing hell for my cynicism." She turned from the scene that made her teeth hurt.

Metallika watched her. The girl was so damaged. But then again, they all harboured dark pasts, just buried under years of repression.

Whiplash walked to the fire. "That's all of them," she told Glacier quietly. "You wanna get started?"

"No."

"Well, here they come." Whiplash waved everyone over to join them by the fire. They gathered in a circle around the flames, and fell silent. It was eerie the way they all shut up, as if a blanket muffled them.

Whiplash took a deep breath. She was so obviously their leader. She seemed to grow in stature, gathering all strength from others around her. "This is going to be hard." She began in a clear voice, no trace of fear, only faith. "This, what is happening to our own kind ends tonight. If you think you're weak, if you doubt yourself in any way, than you are going to die. I can't to help you. We are going to fight, and it is going to be to the death. For better or worse," she looked at Glacier. "We are together. You need to rely on each other. If you don't then, well," she searched each of their faces. "You have been warned. But that doesn't mean we give in. We shall never give up. These people deserve freedom. And they are going to get it." She released her breath.

There was a deathly quiet. Glacier looked at everyone, searching for weakness, but each face was the same.

"We shall give the final strike. And we shall win!" Whiplash's voice grew to fill the air, and she punched the air. There was an answering roar from the group, and they thrust their fists into the air, copying Whiplash's stance.

Glacier smiled, the mood was electrifying, all bodies crackled with readiness. She began to believe that they could do this.

"Glacier will train us. With her help we shall succeed," Whiplash informed them, and they yelled again, and looked at Glacier admiringly. She suddenly became part of the collective, part of a group. Whiplash was right, if they didn't work together then they would fail.

"When do we start?" A voice (probably Alaska) yelled.

Whiplash looked expectantly at Glacier. "Right now," She replied, and Whiplash yelled in delight.

Glacier collapsed next to Whiplash. Sweat covered her body in a sticky film, and she tried to catch her breath. They had been at it for hours, teaching kicks, punches, and deadly strikes. She practised with them until they could quickly see weaknesses in fights, learning the intricate twirls of a good brawl.

Whiplash stared at her teacher. "What, you, tired?" she panted.

"Shut....up...." Glacier gasped.

Mole crawled over to them. "Did you intend to make me feel so....dislocated?"

"Yes." Glacier rolled onto her elbow. "Where's Metallika?"

"Probably suffering from cardiac arrest. Why?"

She smiled at him. "I have an idea."

Metallika concentrated. It was going to be hard, honing her abilities like Glacier wanted. But it was a good idea, and she was eager to help. "Ready Blockhead, Arctic?" She looked at her accomplishes. They nodded, and Arctic's excited black eyes shone at her. She closed her eyes, and her hands began to glow. She felt the hot, molten metal flow from her core to her fingertips, searing and soothing at the same time. Arctic stood ready to cool it as soon as it came out of her, and Blockhead raised his fist, ready to strike.

Glacier closed her eyes too, and then opened them. She flexed her fingers, and slowly formed one of the most deadly points she ever created. The grain of glass spiralled to a razor sharp edge on one side, and a piercing point. It was longer than her arm, so it felt strange to use so much glass at once. She released it with a sigh, and grasped the end, flinching when it unintentionally cut her skin. "Ready," she told Metallika shortly. The girl nodded, and stretched out a finger, lightly touching the point. Red liquid seeped from her fingertip, moulding around the spear. Arctic breathed slowly on it, hardening the metal, and Blockhead cut the end, when Glacier raised her hand. The metal had run into the crevices around the spear, forming spirals around the weapon. The end was covered in metal, giving Glacier a handle.

Quiklife reached out and touched her partner, giving a mild shock to her. Metallika opened her eyes with a jolt, and looked at her. "Thanks."

"Are you alright?" Quiklife said protectively. Her voice sounded disconnected, dead.

Metallika nodded. "I can do this. It's easy, like I should have tried this long ago." She grinned at Glacier. "Lets do this, punk."

Whiplash walked over to the "production line". Blades were stacked next to Metallika, hammered and cooled with the help of Blockhead and the three icicles. Glacier watched, inspecting the daggers and swords.

"Ok, that's enough," she said suddenly.

Metallika let out a breath, and smiled at her and Quiklife, who hovered over her, unintentionally vulture-like. "Cool, knifes." she said wearily. "Can I lie down now?"

Glacier smiled. "Sure. You've done great."

Metallika smiled, and went to curl up by the fire, her head on Quiklife's lap.

Glacier stood, and waved to the group. "Come and get it!" She indicated the blades. "We have to have weapons, so everyone take at least a dagger."

Whiplash grinned. "Awesome accessories."

Glacier stood close to her. "They're still unprepared. This is..." she searched for the right words, "Huge."

Whiplash touched her arm. "Hey, we'll be ok."

Glacier shook her head. "Then why do I feel like I'm sending them to the gallows." She walked into the darkness, needing to be alone with her thoughts. She knew they were going to die. She wished she knew who, so she could thank them.


	17. Ultimate

Chapter Ultimate Part one

Mist swirled across the buttercup spotted field. Dewdrops clung like pearls to blades of grass, and the cool grey building at the tree line appeared peaceful, sleepy. A slight hill came into view after the mist cleared, directly opposite the unsuspecting facility. The trees behind it looked menacing, shadowed. Nothing moved, apart from the waves of fog on the ground.

A twig cracked behind the hill. The noise cut through the peaceful silence like a bullet from a smoking gun. Footsteps crunched on the ground. A girl walked across the grass, to the hilltop. She stood still, watching the building. Others came behind her, like ghosts in the morning mist. They stood close together, like a wolf pack. They stood as hunters would, sensing their prey, assessing the situation. They stood as those condemned.

Another girl came up beside the first, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You ready?" Her auburn was plaited at the back of her head, and the hand on her shoulder shook.

Glacier looked at her friend, comrade, sister. "If you are."

Whiplash smiled, and turned to the figures behind them. She looked fondly at the faces of her faithful team. She would want to remember them like that, courageous and bold.

Glacier lifted her arm and swept it forwards. They sprang into action, the ones chosen to go first leaping into the fray. The Dragonfly Brothers took off, Jet and Blockhead holding onto Alaska for dear life as she became a cold whirlwind of frost. They headed for the place they all hated so much, Glacier watching them, love in her heart, sadness in her eyes.

The secretary swivelled on her chair, her back aching from leaning over the computer all night. She sighed, her shift was almost over.

"You ok Alice?" A doctor came through the doors to her right that led into the main building.

"Yeah, just tired," Alice replied.

He looked down at the folders on the side of the desk. "How's the sister?"

"Still bad, but getting better." Alice rubbed her shoulder. "Anything new on the subject that escaped?" She asked him eagerly.

"No, doubt it'll return though." He looked up and smiled at her. "Probably dead on some roadside."

Alice looked away. Sometimes the way the doctors talked scared her. She was young, fresh out of school, and this was her first real job. She learnt early on not to ask about what happened inside. She rubbed her arms. Goosebumps tickled their way up the skin. "Did it suddenly get cold?"

The doctor looked up. The sky outside had grown dark, deep grey clouds mapping across the once clear blue. He frowned. "Weird," he muttered. He turned back to the desk. "Wouldn't worry about it."

The lights snapped out. All across the building, lights were going out.

Alice's breathing grew fast, her heart pounding. The doors to outside blew open, bringing an icy gust of wind. She rose slowly to her feet, her hands gripping the side of the desk. Her eyes were riveted on the doors, the scene outside like something from hell. Lightening cracked, thunder boomed, but no rain fell. She could just see the outline of the doctor, still and frightened. They didn't notice a shadow moving in the darkness behind them. A ghostly figure, dark, but with bright blue eyes that glowed in the gloom. In its hand sparkled a blade, short and deadly. It crept towards Alice, it's gaze fixed on her.

Alice was frozen in terror. Something was breathing behind her. A hand crept, almost lovingly around her neck. Another across her waist. "Don't make a sound," a voice, deep and calming, whispered in her ear. "Get the keys to the door, and put them on the desk."

Alice unclipped the keys from around her belt, and placed them quietly on the surface.

"Good," the voice said. "Do you know what happens here?"

She shook her head, a tear slipping from the eye.

"I'll tell you, because I don't think you deserve to die. He however," Alice's eyes flickered to the doctor, and the voice continued. "He does."

As the voice wove chilling tales in her ear, the woman's eyes grew round as plates. Her heart settled, and her soul grew dark and angry. "I think you know what to do," the voice said, and Alice felt the handle of the knife pressed into her hand. She felt the hands withdraw from around her, and she looked down. She knew what was right. The voice may not have been real, but the things it told her were. She looked back at the doctor, who was still watching the door. It seemed time had slowed around her and the voice. She took a step towards him, her feet making no noise. Unknown to her, the figure still watched from the shadows. She gripped the knife tightly. She closed her eyes, and her body seemed to guide itself. She felt her arms grab the man's body. She felt her hand stifling the scream. She felt her arm raised the knife. She felt the resistance of his skin. She felt the grinding the knife made against the protections of his ribs, and the jerks his body made. She felt his heart stop.

Jet watched the man collapse, and smiled. The young woman had done well. She crept out behind her. She leant forwards, and whispered in her ear. Her breath made the other tremble. "Run," she breathed.

The knife fell to the floor, and Alice ran through the doors. Jet's hold on her was broken.

Glacier watched the woman run from the facility. Jet's talent was stunning, able to control people by touching them. Her voice was...it seemed to reach inside the person's soul, caressing and persuading. She could also make room dark, which she said was actually annoying.

Whiplash let out a breath. They were good! Using Alaska to control the weather, and Jet to control the woman...inspired. She saw the Dragonfly Brothers hovering over the building, cutting at the phone lines. They were completely at their mercy.

Alaska materialised in the foyer, dry ice flowing from her body. She shook back her hair, sending showers of ice over Blockhead. "We good?" She asked Jet, who was standing over the computer.

"Almost got their alarms and locks down. Just give me a minute...." She trailed off, typing furiously.

Alaska glanced at her watch. "We've got three minutes before they realise something's up and send reinforcements."

Jet gave her a sardonic look. "Should be easy then," she growled, and went back to the computer.

Alaska grinned. In three minutes guards would be crawling all over this place, and the others would be here. The guards were going to be not so much crawling as...well, dead. If Jet managed to get the locks down then they could just skip straight past them, into the main building. Glacier had said they should hit the chair room first, where all the experiments happened. Then they could get the cells. Alaska looked down again. Two minutes thirty.

Glacier stared at her watch. Three, two, one. It beeped, signalling one minute was up. It would take them at least a minute to get down there. They had to move now. She nodded to the others, and they all began walking calmly towards their fate.

"Done!" Jet grabbed her knife from where it lay on the counter. "Defences down. They're as helpless as babies."

"Not as cute though," Alaska replied cynically. She gripped her own sword tightly. It was a good idea to make them. She turned to look out of the doors, seeing the group descending towards them. They would be here in about 20 seconds. She looked down again. 30 seconds.

Glacier broke into a run, the team copying her. They hurtled towards the facility, the Brothers flying above them. She burst through the doors, almost running down Alaska. Mole crashed unfortunately into Blockhead, who didn't stumble, just looked in mild surprise at the flattened Mole. He scrambled to his feet, bright red.

"Smooth," Whiplash commented. She smiled nervously at the others.

The Brothers soared in over their heads, landing delicately. Fierri moved to stand closer to Whiplash. Bierri just sighed and smoothed down his clothes. There was a tense silence, until Glacier pushed her way to the front.

"Ok, we need to get into defensive positions. No-one attack until I say." She surveyed them all with a steely gaze. They fell into the assigned places. Glacier, Blockhead, Alaska and her group, Quiklife and Whiplash at the front. Metallika, Jet after them. Mole and the Brothers where at the back, an order with which they were most displeased.

Glacier glanced to her right, looking at the faces on either side of her. She was in the middle, surrounded by hard faces and fast breathing. Pounding steps filled the foyer, running and marching towards them. The vultures were descending. She took a deep breath. "Hey," she muttered to Whiplash, who was standing beside her, "Thanks, ok. I really appreciate this."

Whiplash smiled sadly at her. "That's cool."

Glacier looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry." The marching steps grew closer, and the glass doors rattled.

Whiplash frowned. "For what?"

Glacier paused, sadness filling her soul. She looked lovingly at the girl she'd grown to trust so much. "This."

Guards reached the doors. They could see them through the glass, like deadly demons. They alls stood shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the fight.

The glass blew apart in a hot blast wave. Guards poured in, guns trained on the mutants, yelling and shouting. "On the ground...hands on your head...get down!"

They didn't answer.

"Take them down!" One shouted, and the turmoil began. All of them rushed forwards, towards the front line. Whiplash whirled around, taking down three. Blockhead stuck out his fists, guards crashing into them and crumpling, bones crunching.

"Alaska, give us some cover!" Glacier yelled. The other girl nodded, and the three disappeared into frozen winds. They swirled around the enemy, fogging the interior of the building. "Attack!" Glacier commanded, and they all threw themselves at the army.

Glacier drew her glass spear, stabbing a guard through the heart, whipping round and stabbing another in the stomach. She leapt into the air, whirling her foot round one way and her spear the other, bringing down a circle of guards. She heard Mole cry out, and looked around for him, seeing him surrounded by a wall of white uniform. She sprang towards him, only to be beaten to him by Metallika, who released a jet of hot metal into the guards' faces. What a way to die, thought Glacier in a millisecond. Burnt and suffocated. Serves them right. She looked around at the rest of the team, fending of guards as she did. Quiklife was doing well, only touching them to send deadly shocks into their hearts. Dragonflies were good too, using their flight to dodge attacks and knock out guards from above. Mole was all teeth and claws, ferocious and furious. Jet was controlling all the guards that she could, making them kill their own and then themselves. Blockhead was...well, being Blockhead.

Another wave of guards came rushing through the doors, gaping at the slaughter they saw before them. They had armour on. Chute. They wouldn't be able to be stabbed as easily. She suddenly found herself shoulder to shoulder with Whiplash, who gripped her sword so tight her knuckles had turned white. "Can we do this? We're being beaten to a pulp!" She hissed in Glacier's ear. The guards swirled around them, not noticing the two girls standing in the corner.

"What! I thought we were winning!"

"Yeah, on pure adrenalin, but we're in bad shape," Whiplash retorted. "We can't do another round in the dog house."

Glacier's mouth was set in a straight line. They weren't invincible, and she had just accepted they would be able to beat them because they were mutants. "Ok, get the others outta here. I can go alone, getting past is easy," she told Whiplash.

Whiplash laughed. "No way. I'm not leaving you. You're not a hero, so don't try to be one."

Glacier whirled around, and pinned her against the wall. She held her blade to the girl's throat, her other hand holding her against the hard, unforgiving concrete. "No!" She yelled, her bloodied hair flicking down her forehead. "I've lost too many people; I'm not loosing you too." Her eyes clouded with hot, angry tears and her grip tightened. Whiplash gasped in pain. "I'm not leaving you," she whispered. "Order the others away if you want to, but I'm staying."

Glacier choked back desperate sobs. She had to go! "No!" she said again, but weaker. "Leave, run, go!"

Whiplash looked sadly at her. She shook her head, not caring about the blade that almost touched her skin. "Never." Her hand toughed the one on her arm. "I'm not leaving you."

Glacier let her drop, and turned away. "You'll die." She said, harshly.

"I know." Whiplash said. "Doesn't stop you." She came up beside her. "Let's do this shit."

Glacier smiled. Hearing Whiplash swear secured her belief that she was already dead. She shook the other's hand. "Goodbye," she said gently.

"It was a pleasure knowing you." Whiplash gasped over the growing sobs. They smiled at each other, and threw themselves into the fray.

Mole withdrew his claws from the guard's chest, and turned to the next. His nails glanced of the thick armour. "Dammit!" He drew his sword, lying forgotten on his back. He held it awkwardly. Swinging it clumsily, the guard fell, his knee sliced open, blood pouring onto the stone. Mole turned again, and saw Metallika fending off three guards by her lonesome self. She swung her sword one way, sending a jet of metal the other. She was obviously the biggest threat, being able to disable several men at once. They piled onto her, brandishing guns and thin clubs. "No!" Mole yelled, and leapt towards her. He grabbed one man, his claws digging into his back. He threw the man across the room, and dug his way through the others to Metallika. She was lying in a heap, bloody and broken. Her crushed hand still held the sword, her other stuck to the floor with a gush of metal. He tenderly pulled the sword for her, wincing as her fingers cracked and shifted. He threw it away, and looked up as he heard another guard swinging towards them. He grasped the gun from a fallen man, and sent a stream of bullets into the guard's chest. He fell, twitching to the floor.

Mole lifted Metallika up, laying her body in his arms as he knelt behind the pile of bodies she had sent to their doom in her last moments. Her chest rose lightly, and her mouth opened, leaking blood onto her cheek. She opened her eyes weakly, gasping in pain. "M...Mole?" She croaked.

He smiled at her, knowing it didn't reach his eyes. "Hey, you're going to be fine," he said pathetically. He looked around for Quiklife, knowing that if he called her, the guards would hear him. The bodies offered some obscurity. Metallika pulled her hand free from the metal with a sudden wrench. It was burnt and blistered. She reached up and laid it on Mole's cheek. He closed his eyes and a tear fell on her skin, hissing as it made contact with the intense heat. She smiled at him, and coughed, her chest heaving with the effort of staying alive. "It's ok," she whispered. "I did my part." She closed her eyes. "Tell Quiklife I...I was think....thinking," Her voice retreated inside her body, her soul escaping its broken cage. Her mouth fell slack, and a last breath blew over Mole's face. Her hand dropped from his face, and he caught it, holding it against his skin. He rocked back and forth, clutching her body, tears falling on her unfeeling skin.

A footfall made him look up. He turned, and a bullet shot past his shoulder. A guard stood behind him, gun raised. Mole let out a heart-wrenched yell of revenge, and hurled himself at the man. He plunged his hands into his chest, clawing and ripping, ignoring the man's screams. The body fell and he landed heavily on top. He retracted his claws, feeling the resistance of skin. The man let out a gurgling breath, and lay still. Mole rolled to the side, lying on his back next to Metallika's fallen body. He was covered in blood, and lay quite still, unfeeling. Numb. He closed his eyes.

A sudden jarring shot through his body. He yelled in pain, and opened his eyes. Blood was spreading across his chest. He lifted a shaking hand from his torso, and saw where the bullet had passed through it, into his ribs. He looked past his hand with greying vision and saw the guard he thought was dead. _I was so stupid,_ he thought blurrily. _The armour...He was faking. What I thought was skin...was material. I dented it, and knocked him out. I failed...everyone_. His head fell to the side, and his eyes went blank and glassy. A single tear fell from the unseeing orb, and splashed silently onto the floor.


	18. New content

Chapter Apocalypse

She watched Mole being dragged out from behind the bodies by Kierri. She saw Alaska fall on his body, with wrenching sobs. She did nothing as Kierri tried to pull her away, and was grabbed from behind by a huge man. She made no movement as Kierri was shot again and again, twitches running horribly through his body. She turned away as Bierri stabbed the attacker through the head with a blood curdling scream. She closed her eyes as Alaska rocked back and forth, splattered with Kierri and Mole's blood, sobbing quietly, clutching Mole's broken body like a life raft. Tears rolled down her cheeks as Arctic and Antarctic picked them both up and ran with them out of the doors to safety. She didn't blame them. Who would want to stay when everyone you love is being hacked down in front of your eyes, when all you want to do is look away.

Glacier was jolted by Whiplash grabbing her arm. The girl's face was covered in blood, and she had several bruises forming on her once lily-white skin. "We have to get outta here! We're being slaughtered!"

Glacier stared blankly at her, into her desperate, mad eyes. "Go. I'll..." She swallowed down the truth, which threatened to burst out of her. "I'll be right behind."

Whiplash nodded, tears running down her face. "Ok, you'd better or..." She screamed.

Glacier caught her as her legs went slack. "Oh god...oh please god, no..." she whispered. If she lost Whiplash...

Whiplash looked up at her. "I'm fine, it's ok, just a graze." She stood up, leaning on Glacier heavily. Her leg had been cut by a bullet. It wasn't deep, but it was enough to stop her running.

"I'm fine, I'll stay." She gasped.

Glacier held her close, feeling her strong heartbeat. "I know you will." She let go. She smiled at her friend. "Thank you."

"That's ok, it's my pleasure," Whiplash smiled back at her.

Glacier curled her hand into a fist, and hit her in the face. She was knocked out instantly. "But I can't loose you too. Bierri!" she called. He swooped over at once, and without a word picked her up in his strong arms like an angel. "Go!" she told him.

"What about..."

"GO!" She screamed at him, and put her glass shaft to his stomach. "Go, now."

He looked deep into her eyes, and nodded. He soared off, Whiplash dangling from his hands.

Glacier sighed deeply. "EVERYONE, OUT NOW!" She screamed to anyone left. They looked up, and did as she said. Too few, Glacier thought as they rushed past, into the clean air outside, swift-footed like deer, running from wolves.

She watched them for as long as she dared, and then turned back to the now abandoned fight. Opponents without partners. She tightened her grip on her weapon. "You're going down bitches," she growled to the guards. They turned to her, seeing a strong, blood-soaked dark figure in the shadows. "Remember me," She tilted her head, a dangerous smile on her face. "Of course you don't. I killed the ones who would."

She came slowly out of the shadows. The guards seemed taken aback at the sight of a single girl to face them. They hesitated, wondering who would go first. "Come on," she goaded them. "You killed kids before. What's so special about me?"

She carried on advancing slowly. "You're going to die." She told them.

They moved as one, one huge mass raising one huge gun. She readied herself. Just do what you did last time, she thought, shoot and I'll block you. I couldn't do it before in case I hurt the others. Well, they're gone now, so do your worst.

Their fingers tightened on the triggers. She closed her eyes, feeling the resistance of the glass she was about to break. Bullets rushed at her, so she rushed at the bullets. She ran forwards, glass shattering and stopping the bullets in front of her just in time. She sent shards of glass at their faces, faster than bullets. She ran through the first line of guards, blood splattering her. She did the same again and again, until she reached the back. She stopped and looked behind her. Faces mutilated, the guards lay still. The glass dropped with an innocent tinkle to the floor. Hers shoulders hunched up, and her arm muscles tightened. She looked at the bodies for what seemed like an eternity. Like no time had passed since she had last done that. Had it?

She heard a light footfall behind her. She whipped around, like a cat sensing a predator. She saw one guard, his hands shaking. He was quite young. He held a simple side-arm, which was pointed at her head.

She laughed. He flinched, and tried to stop shaking. "Do it." She stood with her hands open, yet ready to grab her glass spear from her back. "You saw what happened to your buddies. Try it, and see what I'll do to you." She stepped closer to him. "I'm thinking carve my name into your face." She laughed again, and then her face went hard and anger smouldered beneath like a volcano. "Or maybe I'll just carve one line into you for everyone who suffered in my life because of what you did to me here." She tilted her head. "And that's quite a few." She stepped towards him again, and he fired the gun. The bullet went deep into her arm, but she didn't flinch. She stopped, and looked down at the line of bright blood seeping from the wound. She watched it creep further and further down, until it ran down her finger and a drop formed at the end. Both their eyes watched it quiver, then fall to the floor. The guard's eyes looked back at her arm, and saw the skin closing over the wound. She smiled, and looked up darkly at him through her eyelashes. He h looked terrified. Maybe she could scare him to death, but she didn't have the time. She lifted her hand, and a small shard of glass flew into it. She stepped forwards again. Suddenly, her leg buckled. One side of her body had gone numb. Her once-wounded arm was dead. The numbness spread slowly to her other side, and she fell to the floor, the glass skittering away across the floor. She lifted herself up on one arm, but slumped down again. She was paralysed. "You son of a..." but she couldn't muster the energy to finish. Her vision clouded, and darkness pressed in on her on all sides. She saw a pair of shiny, black shoes on the floor in front of her. She blinked, her eyelids getting heavier and heavier, until they closed all together and she fell into darkness.

A heartbeat thudded. Glacier felt like she was floating in space, her hair magically grown back, swirling around her. She was suspended in an area of nothingness, clouds forming around her. Deep purple and angry, they sparked lightning dangerously close to her. She floated, unable to move. A bolt of light shot from the clouds, and everything stopped. Time, sound, feeling, everything. It was as if she had plunged into water. She watched the bolt of electricity stop, inches from her chest. She was filled with an aura of regret, seeing everything she lost dance around her. She closed her eyes, and everything started to move again. Sound crashed around her ears, and a shock went deep into her soul as the lightning struck her. She began to glow from the inside, her hair outlined in a perfect halo of blue and silver. She drifted backwards, and as if she had been sucked down a tube, she whizzed away from the storm.

It hurt. No, everything hurt. Her body was a burning shell of pain. She felt as if she had been beaten with spikes, and they had been left in her skin. She would have cried, but she couldn't. It was as if all the tears in her had gone, wept away over the years. She still had her eyes closed, but it felt as if they were welded shut, rather than held. Images still danced behind her eyelids. Images of her life. ...

She moaned softly, her throat burning. "Thirsty." She croaked.

"Now, where have I heard that before?" A soft voice whispered.

She jolted, and forced her eyes open. She couldn't see anything, the room was dark. Her hands were strung up in heavy chains above her head. She was tied to the wall behind her, it's cold leaking into her bones. She pulled weakly against the restraints, but they hardly moved. "What…" She croaked again, and swallowed.

"You can't remember, can you?" The voice laughed at her. "That is a shame. I was so hoping we could have a nice little," there was a small pause, "reunion."

"Who the hell…" she began, but was cut off.

"Oh, I don't think you would recognise me. I have changed so very much."

Glacier's memory twitched and reared it's sleepy head. The voice…it seemed familiar. Like a nightmare that's still clinging at the folds of her consciousness. She frowned. "Dr…Dr Leese?" She whispered.

He laughed. "Look at me, my dear, and you will see."

She raised her head painfully, dreadlocks of short bloodied hair falling over her eyes. She could see a dim silhouette of a man in front of her. She narrowed her eyes. "No…I killed you…" she whispered.

"You may have killed my old body," his voice becoming dark and furious. "But as if I couldn't find another. Another willing slave. You see," He stepped into a thin shaft of light. "I can never die."

Glacier stared, terrified, at the man who stood in front of her. He was young, and would have been good looking if it wasn't for the huge scar that ran all around his hair line, still healing, stitches still forcing the skin together. He had dark bruises shadowing his brilliant green eyes, wide and cat-like. Black hair fell carelessly over the marred forehead, and high, unforgiving cheekbones gave him a commanding look. He seemed to move as if his body was fighting against him. As if it wasn't right. "You…"She gasped. "You can't…it's not…"

"For me, it is." He smiled at her, perfect teeth gleaming.

"You're a mutant?" Glacier shouted at him, angry and recoiling inside. It was so…wrong. Against every law…

He laughed. "Took you long enough." He glared at her, eyes narrowing to slits. "I couldn't stand being what I was. Yet, I was curious. Curious to see what kinds of other powers I could gain from …things," he spluttered. "You were not people to me. You were less than animals. You were…" he controlled his anger and disgust. "Tools. Tools to be used."

She clenched her fists, the old fire igniting inside her soul. Small warmth was cast around her body, and she felt a little stronger. But not enough.

He lunged forwards and slapped her. Her head snapped around, her neck screaming from the strain. She clicked her neck back, and stared at him.

"Not so dangerous now are you," his jaw set hard, anger boiling, he hit her again.

Her head fell down, and she caught her breath. Then she began to laugh. She raised her head, and looked him in the eyes. She saw what she must look like. A bloodied, broken mutant covered in scars and bruises, light shining in her silver eyes and laughing. He took a step back, then composed himself. He tugged his shirt, flattening it. He turned sharply and marched into the shadows. She heard him turn a handle, and then he called to her. "You will die today Glacier. And not before your time either. It's time for you to cease to exist." She heard the click of a door, and the turn of a lock. She was left in dark silence.

"Ow! You stupid…" Whiplash held her tongue. There was no point in swearing to the one friend she had left. She was lying in the clearing where they had made camp, what felt like years ago. Her leg lay useless in front of her, and the other was curled beneath her. She lifted herself up on her elbows and glared at the boy working on the bandage.

"Shut up! This'll only take a minute," he growled at her. He tightened the material with a sharp tug, and she hissed at the pain. "Done. Now stop being such a baby." Bierri rocked back on his heels. He wiped his hands on his trousers.

She winced, but managed to pull herself up to a proper sitting position. She swept her hair back. "Thanks," she said reluctantly.

He looked at her, deep purple eyes betraying no emotion. "You're welcome."

They sat in silence for a while, each caught up in their own sorrows. Whiplash was still burning inside at the loss of Mole. Bierri hadn't said a word about his brother. "So," she broke the quiet. "Where do you think the others are?"

Bierri scowled. "Dunno. Somewhere safe, I hope."

They hadn't found the others after Bierri had flown with her for as far as he could have, holding a dead weight.

"Do you think Glacier got out ok?"

Bierri said nothing. He hadn't told her how Glacier had stayed. She was probably dead. "Dunno." He said again, bringing his long legs up, and wrapping his arms around them. "Maybe." He burnt inside. He hated lying to her. She was all he had…No. He wasn't going to think that. Or tell her.

Whiplash looked away. "Is Bierri your real name?" She blurted out.

"Huh?" He looked confused.

"We have to talk about something, or I'm going to go crazy! I can't stand silences." She sighed, and looked back at him. "So, is it?"

He snorted. "Um, yeah!"

She looked down. He watched her, her long red hair falling around her scratched shoulders. She looked so lost…he could see why his brother liked her so much. If he was truthful with himself…no. She was out of bounds. He couldn't do that to himself, taking her away from Kierri so soon after his death. It would just be wrong to leap in like that.

"Is Whiplash your name?" He could have kicked himself. Stupid, of course it wasn't her real name!

She smiled sadly, looking up at him. "No." He wanted to drown in those eyes. Stop it! He gave himself a mental slap. You're only thinking this because you've lost everything. _But you felt like this years ago, when you first saw her, _a small voice reminded him. He hung his head. Yes. He had loved her, but it was just a crush! He had never told his brother, so when she began flirting with Kierri he couldn't stop her. She had preferred Kierri anyway. So he started resenting her, even hating her sometimes. She had responded with dislike back, just because she couldn't ever understand why he didn't like her. It was because he loved her.

"Why do you want to know my name?" She asked.

He jolted out of his reverie. "Just because I guess." He looked down again, playing with a clod of dirt. "You're the only one here, and you asked my name…" He trailed off. What was wrong with him? He had buried these feelings for years, keeping them down with empty flirting with girls he hardly knew.

Whiplash blinked. He was acting so weird. He was never this…thoughtful. I guess…he did just lose his brother. "It's Lily," she blurted.

He looked at her, and almost smiled. "Lily," he whispered, low enough for her not to hear.

She smiled at him. "Hi," she said quietly. They looked at each other for a long time. Then Bierri broke off, and stood up sharply. "No! I can't do this." He ran a hand through his hair.

Whiplash stood up too. "What?"

"This!" He gestured at her. "You're…out of bounds."

"Excuse me?"

"You didn't choose me!" He said suddenly.

She fell silent. Her mouth dropped open, and she was struck dumb. "I…what!"

"Nothing, never mind," he backtracked furiously.

"What do you mean?" She asked him.

"I told you to leave it!"

"No!" She spoke harsher than she meant to. "You've always done this. Pushing everyone away, insulting and demeaning, and as soon as anyone wants to get closer to you, you just…"

"It should have been me!" The words kept falling from his unwilling mouth. He couldn't stop himself. "You should have chosen me, it should have been me that helped you in there, it should have been me that…" his words choked him, and a sob escaped. He sank to the floor, his legs unable to hold him up. It all came crashing down on him, his loss of his only family left. He was so alone.

Whiplash knelt beside him, her arms wanting to hold him, comfort him, but she couldn't. It was like a wall stopping her, she pushed mentally against it, beating it with her fists, a silent battle inside her heart. She flung her arms around his shoulders, around the wrenching body. She held him as he weakly pushed against her, until he gave up. He didn't want her to leave, so she stayed. He wrapped his arms around her, and they held each other together. Healing the hurts that they had suffered. They were all each other had left. "Lily…" he whispered, and his arms tightened, as if she was going to evaporate. His grip loosened, and he sat back. She dropped her arms, and looked into his eyes. "It's like we're in a cheesy romantic movie," she sighed.

Bierri looked down at the ground, and moved his hand away from hers. "I hate those movies."

"Me too." She glanced at him, her mind in turmoil. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

"Because you were with Kierri." It hurt to say his name.

She paused, sighing. "Yes, I was. But it's not like we were meant for each other or any of that crap. That only happens in movies." She looked up at the sky. "We broke up a week after getting together, it was too hard. For both of us. We were getting distracted, putting you guys in danger." She smiled grimly at him. "And we were fighting all the time."

"But you guys seemed…"

"People can always seem happy on the outside. We just didn't have that spark, that motive for keeping together. I hated it, having to come up with conveniences for staying together. So, we ended it." She played with a stone in front of her. "We remained friends, but we never were as close as we were before. That's why I left, at least, that's one of the reasons." She rubbed her forehead.

Bierri couldn't speak. He'd never thought of Whiplash as that…serious. He sighed, and the noise made Whiplash jerk out of her reverie. "I, er…" he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

She smiled sadly. "It's ok. I still can't see why you didn't tell me."

He sighed again. "I don't know either. Just chalk it up to me having to push everyone away."

She looked down. "Sorry I said that."

"It's ok, you were right." They sat in silence for a while, just watching the trees sway in a slight wind.

"Let's go find the others," Whiplash said.

Glacier pulled against her restraints. Her wrist bones crunched against each other, almost snapping. She gave up with a gasp. Her body slumped, and she swung gently backwards as she lost all energy. Blood dried in her eyelashes, making them clump together, blurring her vision. She closed her eyelids, and tried to think. Nothing came. The silence entered into her mind, leaving her life in tatters. Tears fled from her bruised eyes, running down her cold face.

The door banged open. Dr Leech stood there. She didn't bother to even grace him with a look. He didn't deserve it.

"Feeling worse?" He asked her pleasantly, as if he was enquiring about the weather.

"Bite me," she replied harshly, spitting at his feet.

He laughed, a hollow, emotionless sound. "It will never come to that my dear."

She glared at him. "Get on with what you're here for. Then get out of my cell."

His face hardened. "Your cell?" He hissed. "You own nothing. You are nothing. You are a virus, infecting the pure humans." He hit her in the face, a sharp slap that cut through her dull cloud of pain. He stepped back, wiping his hands, as if she was filthy. "I'm here to do my job."

"What, you're going to use me for some god-forsaken experiment? You sick bastard."

He laughed coldly. "Don't flatter yourself. You escaped, you raided our facility, you kill. Why would anyone want to recreate you?"

She coughed a cruel laugh at him. "Stop complimenting me."

He glared at her. "You will be experimented on, yes. But only for the most affective torture we can do your kind."

Her insides froze. "What's that?"

He turned at started towards the door. As his gloved hand grasped the handle, he twisted and looked at her. "Turing your own powers against you." He swept out of the room, the door slamming behind him, leaving Glacier staring, dismayed, at the space where he stood.


	19. Origins

_**First of all a sorry to my long-suffering readers for not updating regularly. You guys rock! Second a thank you to everyone who's kept with me this far. I love you guys and I hope you enjoy my next story as much as this one (Sarah Connor chronicles, so watch it! Main reason is that the main guy and girl are amazingly hot! :D Real treat on the ol' eyeballs!) Well then, enough of that, time for the last chapter now. Sit back and enjoy! (That is compulsory by the way ;D )**_

Origins

Glacier stared at the floor. She revolved her tongue around her mouth slowly, a look of concentration on her broken face. She closed her eyes, feeling her power bubble inside her. Gradually, a small piece of glass cut into her lip, held between her lips. She tried to control her breathing. She'' done it! Creating a piece of glass in her mouth had been the only thing she had been training herself to do in this dark, dank cell. And now she had everything she needed to escape. She had a plan.

"_What is it?" _

Glacier almost swallowed the piece of glass in surprise. She pushed it into the side of her mouth, careful not to cut herself. "Who's there?" she croaked.

"_Me, duh!"_

"Oh. I thought it was someone useful. Hey Evelyn." Glacier lifted her head. Evelyn lounged in a corner of the room, illuminating it with her faint glow.

"_Hey. What are you doing here?"_

"I got taken." Glacier turned her head away. "I got everyone out I could."

"_Not everyone. You couldn't get me out." _Evelyn walked towards her.

"No. No one could get you out. Not even me. Not even them." Glacier swallowed, without swallowing her piece of freedom.

"_They didn't have to try and get me out. You did that for them,"_ Evelyn sounded so sad. _"You abandoned me."_

"You abandoned Me!" Glacier would have shouted but her throat grated too much. "I needed you! And you weren't strong enough. You left me."

"_I wasn't strong enough. I was scared. But so were you."_ Evelyn moved closer, right in front of Glacier. _"We could have been strong enough together. You need compassion and love to complete you. You're broken without me inside you."_

"I don't need love. Love makes you vulnerable." Glacier stared at her, silver meeting silver.

"_Tell that to your feelings about John." _Evelyn smiled. _"I don't blame you. He's hot!"_

Glacier gritted her teeth. "John's not here, is he. So I don't feel anything for him."

"_What! You blame him for not following you like a mindless idiot, when you told him not to!" _Evelyn shouted at her. _"He may not be in love with you yet, but he still has pretty powerful feelings for you, dumbass!"_

"I don't want to talk about him, ok!" Glacier spat at her. "I don't need him! I have my way out!"

"_What about me. I don't have a way out. What I need is a way in."_

"In where?"

"_Into you again. You're me. I'm you. I need you, and you may not know it, but you need me too." _Evelyn lifted her hand, and touched Glacier's cheek. _"You're so alone. You can't escape without me. You pushed me out my own head when I created you. I'm not just another character in your story. I belong with you." _

A tear ran through her transparent fingers. "I want you back so much, Evelyn." Glacier whispered. "But I don't know if I can."

"_You're not ready yet then." _Evelyn smiled sadly, a mirror tear running down her own cheek. _"But it's not the time now."_

"What do you mean?" Glacier stared up at her, eyes filled with love.

Evelyn dropped hand from Glacier's face. _"They're coming back."_

Glacier's eyes hardened. "Let them. I'll kill them this time."

"_No!" _Evelyn's eyes filled with terror, and strength. She grabbed Glacier's face between her hands, forcing her gaze away from the door. _"This time it will be different. You have to be stronger than you ever have been. Remember me, remember yourself! You can't let them beat you!"_ She said urgently.

"What are they going to do to us?" Glacier gulped, carefully.

"_I can't say, but it will be the hardest thing you ever have to bear. Never let them beat you! And whatever you do, don't swallow that glass! If you do it will be the end of both of us, and they'll have won."_ Evelyn whipped her head around, staring at the door. Footsteps approached. _"They're coming!" _She looked back at Glacier, smiled at her._ "Don't forget me."_

"Never. I promise."

Evelyn leant forwards, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. _"Good luck." _She released her head, and stepped back. She seemed to glow brighter for a moment, then disappeared, leaving only a faint impression on the back of Glacier's eyelids. She blinked hard, trying to stay with her for a long as possible. The footsteps kept coming, like the inevitable. She could do this, couldn't she? She dropped her head, tears falling with small drops on the black floor. "I have to do this," she whispered. "I can do this." She was briefly blinded by a sudden burst of light. Her head snapped up, expecting to see Evelyn's kind face, but she saw only a tall silhouette. "Leech." She said quietly, her heart pounding. "I can do this," she whispered.

Leech came into her cell. "The time has come. A bit overly dramatic, but it fits the situation, don't you agree?" His slick voice oozed over her.

"Yes. It's come." Glacier replied. He couldn't touch her. Not anymore.

Leech looked momentarily confused, but it passed like a shadow over his face. "Very well. Let us begin." He moved closer to her, followed by a guard wheeling a small medical trolley.

"You feel safe with all those things near you?" Glacier said quietly. "Remember what happened last time."

He gulped slightly. "Yes, well. You're restrained."

"As I was last time."

He almost backed away, but shook himself inwardly. "You can't do anything. I broke you. You're useless."

The words bounced off Glacier. He couldn't do anything to her. She was ready for this. Fate had found her, and after running from it for so long, she had to face up to it.

He stepped to the trolley, and picked up a syringe. It was filled with reflective light, swirling around the capsule. "Recognise this?" He asked. "It's what is inside you. I thought we would see what happened when we injected you with a mix of glass and a new material we just discovered. It's called adamatium. It's really quite fascinating for me, not so much for you." He flicked the tube, and a little liquid oozed from the needle. "Perfect," he murmured, and stepped towards her. Glacier tensed as he picked up her arm. "This won't hurt a bit. Until it starts to work." He laughed cruelly.

Glacier closed her eyes as the needle sank into her forearm. She felt the liquid drive into her, cold and almost moving. Leech stepped back, watching. The cold feeling spread all over her, and Glacier cried out in pain. It was changing her! It swirled around her whole body, cooling and white hot at the same time. She looked down in horror at her arm. A clear glow was spreading over her. Her whole body was being turned to glass! She could see her veins through what once was her skin. They were filled with the adamantium, she could see it flowing around her. She stared as more metal fused with the glass, weaving into the grain. She looked at her other arm, and saw the same thing. She couldn't stop it! She dimly heard Leech say, "When the glass reaches your brain, it will stop working. I'm afraid you'll die. And not a moment too soon." She felt the cold slowly creep up her neck. "N-no!" She gasped. "Evelyn!" She clenched her freezing hands. "I won't let you do this!" She yelled. The glass was getting closer. "I won't let you!" She pulled at her chains, harder than she ever had. "You will never take me!" She shouted, the glass up to her chin. "I'm not Glacier!" She shouted, the glass changed, swirling up the side of her face. "My..." she pulled at the chains harder, "…name…" the glass slowed down "…is…" the chains cracked at the walls "…Evelyn!" The chains came loose, and the glass stopped. The metal flowed briefly over her skull, fusing her body into a shining, glowing figure, then cooled. Her hands dropped to her sides, the manacles breaking open when glass crept through the hinges and broke them. Leech watched in horror as the girl in front of him straightened up. She was completely still. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. Time stopped in that little room, now lit by the reflections from her skin.

Evelyn breathed in for what felt like the first time in years. The side of her face with the long scar was glass, the scar now a long crack. The rest of her was glass and metal. The other side of her face was still flesh, warm and soft. She opened her eyes, seeing everything with a new clarity. She slowly lifted her head, meeting the terrified eyes of Dr Leech. He saw he new gaze. A bright silver, almost white sight that dimmed his brain with their clear glow. He gulped.

Evelyn walked towards him. Her body felt supple, new. Stronger than ever before. Before she could reach him, he backed hastily to door, hands fumbling for the handle. His finger grazed it, and flinched away when he felt something cool, like ice crusting over it. Evelyn still walked slowly towards him, grasping the guard's neck, who was rooted to spot in fear, and twisting it sharply. He fell to the floor with a thud. The noise cut through the air like a gunshot. Dr Leech whimpered and turned away from her, tugging the door with all his might. He didn't notice the glass creeping up the sides, across the metal towards him. He heaved the handle, pounding the door with his fist until it bled. He tried to left his hand from the handle, but couldn't. He looked down, the palm of his other hand still on the door. His hand was stuck to the handle, glass crusting over it with a crystal sound. He whimpered again, and looked at his other hand. The glass crusted over that one too. He twisted to look at Evelyn. She stared at him, and smiled slightly. "No…" he whispered, "Please…"

Evelyn smiled still, and reached out slowly to his arm. "This won't hurt a bit," she said sweetly. His terrified eyes held her's, unable to look away. She grasped his arm tightly, her smile vanished. "Until it starts to work," she hissed, and her hand spread glass onto his arm. He broke her gaze, and stared at his arm, this glass running up it towards his head. He began to yell, like a wounded child as the glass spread up his neck, forcing his head up, his mouth still open in a grotesque scream. He went on screaming as the glass writhed over his lips, down his throat, around his heart and brain. Evelyn clenched her fists, and the glass tightened like a vice. His shriek cut off with a gurgle, and he fell backwards, the glass around his hands cracking and falling, tinkling to the floor.

Evelyn regarded his body with disgust for a moment, then stepped around the silently screaming corpse, and tugged the door open. As she stepped out into the hallway, guards all around the facility gasped and coughed as they felt something cold creep up the back of their necks, then fell to the floor as if they were puppets with broken strings. Evelyn walked calmly down the hall, stepping over bodies. Doors swung open, locks cut by glass at her silent command. She stopped, lifting her hands slightly. She took a deep breath, then spread her fingers. All around the building, words were cut into the two way mirrors of every prisoners rooms. _Come out. You can walk in the light again._ Doors swung wide open, and Evelyn opened her eyes. She could hear yells of delight, and fear as the prisoners rushed out, towards her, their feet guided by an unknown force. She smiled, and carried on walking. They would all escape soon. She remembered her piece of glass. She tilted her head to the side, not feeling in her half-cold mouth. It must have been absorbed into her. She didn't need it anymore. She heard footsteps behind her, but she didn't stop. They slowed down, and walked quietly behind her. She could sense the footsteps of at least fifty people quietly following her. To them, she was their messiah. She reached the last door. The only one out of the facility. All corridors now led to her. She stopped, not opening it yet. She knew there were approximately one hundred and fifty three people in this place, all still moving towards her. She sat down, cross-legged, and closed her eyes. She could wait. They had all the time in the world.

Jet raised her head, looking at the silent stars. Arctic glanced at her, distracted from dressing the wound on her arm. "What is it?" he asked.

Jet shook her head, then looked up again. "Someone's…trying to call me." she whispered.

Arctic looked away. "You're imagining things. It's only expected."

"No, I really think…"

A hand fell heavily on her shoulder, and she jumped. "What is it Jet?" Blockhead asked. He slumped beside her.

"I can hear somebody…it sounds like Whiplash." Jet shook her head, trying to clear it again.

Blockhead sighed. "I don't think so. I don't think they're still alive." She got up, and thumped over the rest of the group. Antarctic and Alaska were huddled by the fire. Alaska was still sobbing quietly, Antarctic wrapping his arms around her. He looked up at Arctic, and the two shared a brief smile. He wanted to be with Arctic right now, but they couldn't leave Alaska. Quiklife was sitting by the tree's edge, not speaking. She hadn't said a word since they told her that Metalika had died. They had to put her under guard the first night, because she couldn't stop trying to touch her heart to stop it. She had lost her whole world. They had loved each other, and now she was completely alone. None of them thought Whiplash, Bierri or Glacier had survived the raid. They were all mourning in their own way. They had found a clearing a few miles away from the facility, and they had stayed there since. It felt like they would never move again.

Jet stood up, the dressing forgotten. "It's getting stronger!" she cried. "I can hear them! It's definitely them!"

Her revelation was met with blank stares. "I really can hear them!" Jet protested. "When have been wrong before? Please, you have to…"

"I believe you."

Jet turned, and saw Quiklife standing by the group. "I heard her too. Whiplash is alive. She's coming here." She sat down, staring at the sky.

Jet smiled at her. "Thank you." She walked over, and sat beside her. They both stared at the stars. All was silence. Even the tree seemed to stop moving. They all felt something inside them. Hope. Suddenly, a buzz met their ears. Like wings. Like giant dragonfly wings. Jet leapt to her feet as two figures flew overhead, and hovered just above them. She yelled in delight, and ran towards them.

Whiplash and Bierri landed roughly on the grass. He unwound his arms from around her waist. She lurched to the side, and he caught her. "Never…ever…fly…with me….again!" she gasped. "Ever!" She closed her eyes, trying to stop the dizziness. When she opened them, she caught a quick glimpse of an astounded group of people, all staring at her like she was a ghost, before a purple blur hurled at her, knocking her to the floor. She was aware of a mental onslaught of affection before She wriggled free of Jet, and leapt up. She stared around her, seeing faces she feared to be dead. They had found them.

Alaska stood up slowly. "You came back," she whispered.

"We came back," Bierri replied. "We need your help."

John lounged outside the classroom, waiting for Bobby. He sighed heavily, and looked at his watch. Bobby walked out of the room, accompanied by a slight girl with long brown hair and elbow length gloves on. He saw John, and bounced over to him, girl in tow. "Hey man! What's up?"

"I got a weird feeling all of a sudden," John said.

"That's why they have a lunch break at this time!" Bobby laughed, and the quiet girl smiled.

John rolled his eyes. "No, I think I'm gonna go see Xavier."

Bobby frowned. "You want me to come with?"

"No, it's cool. You stay with Rogue." He grinned at her. "Make sure he doesn't talk your ear off."

She smiled back. "I won't," she replied, her soft southern accent curling the edge of her words.

"See you later man," Bobby called after him as he walked down the corridor. He turned in Xavier's hallway, and knocked on his oak-panelled door. "Professor?"

"Come in John," a voice came from inside. Or maybe it was inside his head?

He pushed the door open, and stood in front of Xavier. "I think I heard someone calling my name in class, sir." He clasped his hands behind his back.

"I heard it too." The Professor frowned. "It was a signal. Someone needs you, John. I don't know why," he said when John opened his mouth. "But I think it's something to do with Glacier. We still don't know what happened to her when she left. I tracked her for a while, but then she vanished."

"I think I have to go," John said.

Professor Xavier nodded. "I'll get Scott to take the jet. But first I think we have to see where you must go."

Whiplash and Jet dropped hands. They had been sitting in the grass alone for hours. "Did we get him?" Whiplash whispered.

Jet nodded. "Yeah, we got him. The other mind reader got my signal. He's coming here."

Whiplash ran a hand over her face. "Thanks. I just…know she's still alive."

Jet nodded. "I feel it too. We have to go back."

They both looked up, their quiet moment broken. A black plane soared overhead. "Holy smokes, that was fast!" Whiplash cried. She looked at Jet, and they leapt up, running towards where the plane dipped between the trees.

Evelyn's eyes snapped open. She got fluidly to her feet. The other's behind her scrambled up as well. They had been sitting there all night. She admired their resolution, not one of them had come up to her. They had simply followed her. It was a signal shared between mutants, knowing when one was dangerous. It was a technique they had picked up in their years on solitude, although they didn't know it.

She took hold of the door handle, feeling glass slip between the locks. The door swung open with a click. She stepped into the foyer, still seeing the shadows of blood on the floors and walls. They had left their imprint here. They would never do this again, and if they tried, she would stop them. She walked towards the main doors, feeling breathing speed up, hearts flutter and pound behind her. She put out both hands and pushed the final barrier open. Sunlight blinded her, but she continued walking. Yells and screams erupted behind her as the mutants felt breezes on their faces, sunlight on their skin. They hugged each other, ran over the grass, their happiness too much to contain. Some just stood still, hardly able to believe it. They just felt the grass between their toes. Others broke down and cried, tears mingling with the dirt in the ground. Evelyn smiled. She looked up, as if woken from a deep sleep. She saw figures on the hill in front of her. Her heart fluttered like a butterfly, and she began stepping towards them.

Whiplash held Jet's hand tightly as they saw people flooding from the facility. She squeezed it tightly when they saw a girl leading them, in black, ripped, bloodstained clothes. She shone in the sunlight so much they could hardly see her. Gold reflected off her skin into their eyes.

John blinked in the sudden light in his eyes. He squinted, shading his eyes. He walked forwards, trying to see the figure clearly. She was almost in front of them, they could hear her boots on the grass. Whiplash broke holding hands, and ran forwards, towards Glacier. She reached her, but couldn't quite bring herself to hug her. She stopped short of her, looking into her eyes. They were so clear…so bright. Tears blurred her vision, and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She felt cold finger slip between her own, and she looked down. A glass hand held tightly onto her own. She swallowed a gasp, and looked back up Glacier. "Glacier?" She sniffed. "Is it really you? I thought…you were dead." Whiplash felt a tear run down her nose.

"I'm not Glacier anymore." A musical voice said.

Whiplash frowned, confused. "Who are you then?" She held the hand tightly.

"I'm Evelyn." Evelyn smiled at her friend. "I missed you."

Whiplash flung her arms around the cold body. "I missed you too, you big lug," she half-laughed, half-cried. "I never gave up."

Evelyn sobbed, tears running down her almost glass face. "I knew you wouldn't."

Whiplash leant back. "We found someone to help save you. We came to rescue you." She smiled.

Evelyn smiled, puzzled. "Who...Jet? I saw her, I'm glad she survived."

Whiplash laughed. "This is so cheesy!" She giggled, still crying, her eyes like drenched emeralds. "This is the last thing I would expect, after all this."

Evelyn stepped back. "Some stuff is still pretty unexpected."

Whiplash saw her glass friend for the first time. She hugged her again, tightly. "I still think you're beautiful."

Evelyn hugged her back. "Thanks," she whispered, then broke away. "Who else is here?"

Whiplash smiled, and held out her hand. "Come with me."

John watched, mouth open, as both girls made their way back to him. Good thing Scott stayed in the jet, he thought. He'd be bored. Then he stopped thinking anything. He saw her. She was…different. Serene, and dangerous. But she was…shiny. She drew closer to him, and Whiplash dropped her hand, leaving them alone. He stepped forwards, and she stood stock-still. Not quite believing it. She was made of glass, he saw now. What had they done to her? Was she still the same?

Evelyn came closer, walking, then running to him. She almost ran into him, but hugged him instead, winding her arms around his neck. He hugged her tightly, burying his face in her hair. He ran a hand up her arm, and she leant back, looking into his face.

"You…changed." He said, then laughed shakily. "Bit of an understatement." He ran a finger over the glass side of her face. "What happened?"

Evelyn turned her face and kissed his finger. "They made me who I am." She smiled at him. "I'm glad you came back."

"I'm glad too." He ran his hand behind her head, and she tilted her head up to kiss him. It was sweet, short and full of emotion. She broke away, leaning her forehead against his chin. "I have to go," she whispered.

He looked down at her, shock in his eyes. He had come all this way...didn't she care? "What? Why?"

She sighed, stepping back slightly. "I don't belong in your world. Glacier is still in my head, I'm still her. I have to do something else. Something bigger is coming, bigger than both of us. I have to be ready to fight." She licked her lips, swallowing, trying to find the words. "There are so many mutants that aren't ready to defend themselves. I have to help."

"But you come back with me...you could help us, become an x-men or something," he grabbed her arm. "Why do you have to go now?"

She shook her head, her eyes dry. "I knew I had to do this when I made the decision to take myself back, you wouldn't understand." She looked up at him. "Trust me, you really wouldn't. I know things now that I didn't before. I know that something is coming."

John's head dropped. "I would say we could take it down together, but you would say no." His voice became thick, but he swallowed.

"That's right, I would." A hand lifted his chin. "But it doesn't mean you can't take it down too. You on your side, me on mine." She smiled. "We'll see each other again. Maybe when you come looking for mutants, to join our noble cause," she laughed.

He smiled, but couldn't smile back. He reached out, and felt her melt into his arms. "I'll miss you," he murmured.

"Yeah. Me too." Evelyn leaned into his chest for a moment, then stepped back. She looked at Whiplash and Jet. "Will you come with me? I could use some help."

Whiplash walked over and held her glass hand tightly. "Sure. We'll go find the others."

"They survived?" Evelyn smiled, her smile casting sunbeams.

"Count me in too." Jet came and stood beside her. "There's nothing I would rather do. Seriously. What am I supposed to do, get a job?" She smiled.

Evelyn looked at her, and saw intense loyalty behind the jokes. "Thanks." She looked back at John, and saw him standing straight, strong. He knew he couldn't stop her. She broke free of Whiplash and kissed him. "Thank you. I'll come back. I promise."

"I know." He smiled, and watched her turn slowly and walk away. She didn't look back, she knew if she did she would find it even harder. A tear ran down her cheek, and she wiped it away. She knew she would find him again, no matter what happened. She walked across the spruce turf, the sun catching the drops of dew still clinging to the blades.

"Look," said Whiplash. "Winter is coming soon." Fog clung to the ground before them.

Evelyn nodded. "I know, but I don't know what it will bring." The three mutants walked into the mist-cloaked trees, ready to face whatever the fated future would bring.


End file.
